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Drive-By Truckers

Band formed in 1996 in Athens, GA

Drive-By Truckers's Genre:

Alternative Country-Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Southern Rock, Hard Rock

Biography

Boasting a mix of Southern pride, erudite lyrics, and a muscled three-guitar attack, Drive-By Truckers became one of the most well-respected alternative country-rock acts of the 2000s. Led by frontman Patterson Hood and featuring a rotating cast of Georgia and Alabama natives, the band celebrated the South while refusing to paint over its spotty past. History, folklore, politics, and character studies all shared equal space in the Truckers catalog, which offered up its first blast of gutsy, twangy rock with 1998's Gangstabilly. However, it was the band's ambitious double-disc concept album, The Southern Rock Opera, that became its unlikely magnum opus. A two-act affair, the album explored Hood's fascination with '70s Southern rock (specifically Lynyrd Skynyrd) while tackling the cultural contradictions of the region, and it helped lay the groundwork for much of the band's later work.

In 1985, college friends Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood (whose father, David Hood, was a Muscle Shoals session player who played bass on the Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There") formed a punk-inspired band named Adam's House Cat. The group split up six years later, and Cooley and Hood launched several follow-up projects before moving to different cities. They eventually returned to Athens, GA, where they formed Drive-By Truckers in 1996. Gangstabilly announced the band's official debut in 1998, and the follow-up album Pizza Deliverance saw Cooley emerging as a strong songwriter in his own right. (The contrast between Cooley and Hood's songs, as well as those compositions written by bandmembers Rob Malone, Shonna Tucker, and Jason Isbell, would soon prove to be one of the Truckers' biggest strengths.) In 2000, the band documented its strength as a live act with Alabama Ass Whuppin', a concert recording taken from a show in Athens.

The vision for Drive-By Truckers' heralded rock opera took shape as Hood began to address his own Southern roots. Recorded during a September heat wave in Birmingham, Alabama -- and boasting the band's three-guitar attack (à la Skynyrd) -- the album veered from nervy, powerful rock & roll to a bruised, jagged tone that recalled Neil Young & Crazy Horse. It was also an underground success, receiving a four-star rating from Rolling Stone and catching the ear of roots rock label Lost Highway, which reissued the album in 2002. Unfortunately for the label, many people who would otherwise have purchased the album already owned a copy; unfortunately for the Truckers, they were released from their contract just as their first album for Lost Highway was finished. After several months of between-label limbo, the band was picked up by New West Records, a Texas-based label that released Decoration Day in mid-2003. The album featured several songs by newcomer Jason Isbell, a young singer/guitarist who had replaced Rob Malone two years prior.

Tour dates and further lineup changes followed the album's release, with bassist Earl Hicks departing and studio musician Shonna Tucker (who was also Isbell's wife) climbing aboard to join Hood, Cooley, Isbell, and drummer Brad Morgan. The new lineup made its debut on 2004's The Dirty South, a concept album that spun Southern tales of small towns, violent sheriffs, and legendary record producers. A concert DVD, Live at the 40 Watt: August 27 & 28, 2004, arrived in 2005, followed one year later by Isbell's final album with the group, A Blessing and a Curse. In light of Isbell's decision to quit the band in favor of a solo career, pedal steel guitarist John Neff officially joined in 2007, having contributed to several Drive-By Truckers albums in the past. Brighter Than Creation's Dark introduced the revised lineup in 2008; additionally, it showcased Shonna Tucker's abilities as a songwriter, marking the first time that any of her contributions had appeared on record. Drive-By Truckers returned to the road that summer to support the record's release.

Although the band remained on tour well into 2009, the Truckers also found time to release their second concert album, Live from Austin TX, as well as a collection of unreleased material entitled The Fine Print: A Collection of Oddities and Rarities. Patterson Hood rounded out the year by recording his second solo record, Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs), and gathering his bandmates back together after its release for another round of recording sessions. Two albums resulted from those sessions, 2010's The Big To-Do and 2011's Go-Go Boots, both of which were released by ATO Records. Meanwhile, New West Records combed through the band's first decade of material to help compile Ugly Buildings, Whores, and Politicians: Greatest Hits 1998-2009, which marked the band's final release for the New West label in August 2011. ~ Andrew Leahey & Erik Hage

AOL Radio Stations Drive-By Truckers is Featured on (7)

Alt. Country

Alt. Country on Slacker Radio walks the crossroads where country and rock meet. Country fans looking for great music off the mainstream path and rock fans who can handle some twang and the cry of a steel guitar should feel at home. You'll hear everything from the original outlaws like Hank Williams and Johnny Cash through the 70's revival of the Flying Burrito Brothers and John Prine, right up to the current torchbearers including Lucero and the Drive-By Truckers."

Indie Halloween

It’s often hard to tell the difference between costumed Halloween revelers and sullen hipsters. For this reason, Halloween is the most indie-rock holiday of the year. On this station, you’ll hear Indie artists singing about blood, death, bones, ghosts, pumpkins, and other loosely-related Halloween topics.

Hot Water Music Showcase

This is the Hot Water Music Artist Showcase station on Slacker Radio. Tune in to hear a station built entirely by the band including music hand-picked by Chuck, Chris, Jason and George as well as commentary about the songs that influenced their music and their lives.

Southern Rock

Southern Rock on Slacker Radio is a blend of smokin' rock influenced by country, blues, and boogie. If you dig American-made pick-up trucks, domestic beer, the Allman Brothers Band, Skynyrd, and Tom Petty then crank up Slacker's Southern Rock and get down and dirty in the swamp music.

Americana

It’s time to hit the country back roads with Americana on Slacker Radio. Travel through the prairies, swamps, dance halls and pubs to discover rock that twangs, country, folk, and bluegrass. Americana features all of the greats of the genre including Gram Parsons and The Byrds, Lyle Lovett, Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams and more.

The Current

The Current brings you the best authentic new music alongside the music that inspired it, from unique to universal, indie to influential, new to nostalgic. Broadcasting from the musical hotbed that is Minnesota, listen to The Current and you’ll see why we say, “Great Music Lives Here.” Find playlist, interviews and more at thecurrent.org.

Drive-By Truckers

This station plays the best music from and music from related artists like Old Crow Medicine Show, Steve Earle, Whiskeytown, Old 97's, Robert Earl Keen, Jr., Cross Canadian Ragweed, Son Volt, Shooter Jennings, Uncle Tupelo, Townes Van Zandt and more.

All Stations

Drive-By Truckers's Selected Discography (19)

Artists Related to Drive-By Truckers (50)

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	Waylon Jennings	If any one performer personified the outlaw country movement of the '70s, it was Waylon Jennings. Though he had been a professional musician since the late '50s, it wasn't until the '70s that Waylon, with his imposing baritone and stripped-down, updated honky tonk, became a superstar.
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	Randy Rogers	From an early age, music was an important part of Randy Rogers' life. Rogers was raised in Cleburne, Texas, and his great-grandmother taught him how to play the piano at age six; by 11 he was writing his own songs and learning chords on the guitar.
	Rodney Crowell	When Rodney Crowell first gained widespread recognition as a leader of the new traditionalist movement of the mid-'80s, he was, in fact, a singer, songwriter, and producer with roots and ambitions extending far beyond the movement's parameters.
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