Drive By Truckers: Roll Call

yeah, "people who died" was not a cover song that i was expecting.

I thought the Immortal Lee County Killers were….erm…killer. The White Stripes on meth. Much better live than on the album, which is good, but lacks the spastic energy of the live show.

DBT were a lot of fun. Much better than the Molly Hatchet show I saw at Jaxx a few months ago.

I thought the Killers were great…much better than I expected. The Truckers, on the other hand, put on an extremely bloated show. An hour and a half would have been PLENTY. That being said, they're all extremely likable performers, and they do write good songs.

Truckers Rule!!! Thought it rocked. Wasn't expecting such a long show but I'll never complain about that. More time to drink beer.

Wondering if their encore opening Queen cover is a regular occurence or if they ad libbed it? Because if it was go with the flow to the DBT chant, then that is very cool.

Wish I was going to Philly for Saturday's show.

Just got back from making the trek down…loved the show. I figured that that was the 9th time I've seen DBT & that show was definitely near the top.

I think the length of the show was kind of a reward for the good crowd. They really looked like they were SO appreciative and having a good time.

The encore break improv was very cool - never saw them do it before - just seemed like Patterson picked up on the beat and ran with it.
And then the song with ILCK was cool in a weird kind of way - the drummer prowling around the stage with his chains like he was the ghost of Xmas past. That dude needed a shower bad - he was dancing with his girl right beside me & I had to make a get-away.

Rhett - I couldn't disagree more about DBT vs Slobberbone. I really like them both, but forced to choose I'd take DBT anyday. Check out the lyrics on the new record - they're classic - very intelligent & witty. It's one of the main reasons I like them so much.

And Slobberbone being "nicer to look at"?! The bass player looks like an anorexic Grizzly Adams.

Originally posted by TheNomad:
Wish I was going to Philly for Saturday's show.

That will be very good - Marah is the opener.
Wilco is in town here on Sat or I'd be going.

You can always come to Pittsburgh next Wednesday night!

Both my wife and I though the Slobberbone guitarist was hot. And Brent looks cool in a rock and roll kind of way.

My wife thought Patterson was kind of cute. I thought otherwise.

Though I would agree with you about the Slobberbone bass player. He looks like an anerexic Bill Walton.

As far as the lyrics go…I find it hard to understand most of the DBT lyrics in concert, and SRO is their only album I own. I've read the lyrics on the Slobberbone site, so more familiar with them.

Originally posted by grotty:


And Slobberbone being "nicer to look at"?! The bass player looks like an anorexic Grizzly Adams.

Originally posted by grotty:

Originally posted by TheNomad:
Wish I was going to Philly for Saturday's show.

That will be very good - Marah is the opener.

I'd love to see Marah again. Wish they were playing DC as well as the NYC, Philly, Jersey shows they have listed.

Will opine on Slobberbone after Tuesday.

The Drive By Truckers were great! It's pretty funny that music like that suddenly hip on the indie scene, though. It's basically southern rock a la Skynrd, et al, something indie peeps have been snickering at for the last 20 years. But suddenly it's deemed cool and like a herd of sheep, all follow…

Originally posted by Doctor Doom:
The Drive By Truckers were great! It's pretty funny that music like that suddenly hip on the indie scene, though. It's basically southern rock a la Skynrd, et al, something indie peeps have been snickering at for the last 20 years. But suddenly it's deemed cool and like a herd of sheep, all follow…

I found it funny that they are hip as well. There were some great moments last night, but I felt that a lot of their set was very average. At times it seemed like a mix of later Son Volt and even a little Seven Mary Three (not a good thing). There are a bunch of a bands that can play the music they play, I guess they win over because they have a pretty energetic live show. But I did not really think that it was a sustained great live show. I think the first disk of SRO is great and the storytelling is what makes it stick out, but when they are just playing songs, there are only a few standout tracks.

Originally posted by Doctor Doom:
The Drive By Truckers were great! It's pretty funny that music like that suddenly hip on the indie scene, though. It's basically southern rock a la Skynrd, et al, something indie peeps have been snickering at for the last 20 years. But suddenly it's deemed cool and like a herd of sheep, all follow…

I thought they put a lot of energy into their show (with the notable exception of the bass player who seemed to know two – possibly three – chords) and were having a lot of fun. The diehard fans were pretty rabid and way into the show. I wouldn't follow them around, but I thought it was great fun in the same way that almost any style of live music can be highly enjoyable if played by people who really enjoy what they are doing to people that are really into it.

It's funny, I would only be able to come up with "herd mentality" argument for people not laughing their asses off at the Lee County Killers, let alone people actually liking them.

Drive By Truckers are perhaps a bit too Southern Rock for me. I need my Southern music with a bit more twang (along the lines of the Two Dollar Pistols) or with more of a Texas influence (early Old 97's, Slobberbone). That being said, Southern Rock Opera is a very good collection. Disk one is very consistent, with some excellent storywriting. Disk 2 is more inconsistent, but has several excellent tracks. The new stuff sounds pretty run of the mill to me…decent material by a band whose enthusiasm and attitude are able to mesmerize a bunch of testosterone driven male fans (and even a handful of female fans).

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
It's funny, I would only be able to come up with "herd mentality" argument for people not laughing their asses off at the Lee County Killers, let alone people actually liking them.

I agree with you here…but I also had the thought about all the hipsters seeming to now jumping on the Southern Rock bandwagon…I just didn't want to be my usual bitchy curmudgeonly self and bring it up…true, people that would make fun of classic rock now are digging this…

I guess to each his own, but I'm a little surprised at some of the luke-warm feedback on the band and show.

I think a lot of it stems from the fact that they were playing a lot of new stuff. Get the new record & then see them though. I really think it's as good as SRO. I think most would have a different opinion then…it's often very hard to REALLY enjoy a live show when you don't know the tunes.

The other detracting factor I think is the almost over the top hill-billy posing. When I first saw them about 5 years ago, I actually felt a little guilty liking them thinking what's up with these red-necks. You definitely need to 'get them' before you can actually really like them. Listen to the spoken word song "Three Great Alabama Icons" on Southern Rock Opera. It sums up what they are all about better than any other story or article you can read.

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Originally posted by grotty:
I actually felt a little guilty liking them thinking what's up with these red-necks…

herein lies the problem…what's so wrong with "red-necks"…and, I'd say they're hardly red-necks anyway

Originally posted by grotty:
Listen to the spoken word song "Three Great Alabama Icons" on Southern Rock Opera. It sums up what they are all about better than any other story or article you can read.

The problem was that I really liked that song when I heard the album, and I got nothing like that from the show.

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
It's funny, I would only be able to come up with "herd mentality" argument for people not laughing their asses off at the Lee County Killers, let alone people actually liking them.

So it's "herd mentality" when people like a band that you don't, but not when they like a band that you do?

Originally posted by ggw:
So it's "herd mentality" when people like a band that you don't, but not when they like a band that you do?

Don't you have some packing to do, or something? :)

Originally posted by Celeste:

Originally posted by grotty:
I actually felt a little guilty liking them thinking what's up with these red-necks…

herein lies the problem…what's so wrong with "red-necks"…and, I'd say they're hardly red-necks anyway

I'm not sure I'm following you here…I went to see them years ago, really liked them but initally had strange feelings about it…a specific example is seeing the confederate flag draped over the stage - living in the north, that flag has always had racist connotations to me. I didn't really dig them until I better understood their point of view and what they were singing and writing about: "the duality of southern living" - a strong mixture of both pride and shame.

It was very important to me that I didn't see them as true rednecks. Here's how Redneck is defined in my American Heritage Dictionary:

2. A person who advocates a provincial, conservative, often BIGOTED sociopolitical attitude.

There's lots wrong with that to me…

I just wasn't really into the Drive By Truckers because that's not my favorite sound. But I could appreciate the band's chemistry and energy. And I like seeing other people having a good time. The ILCK2 were more my type of band.