Drive-By Truckers clearly stepped up their game at the Bluebird on Friday. Photos by contributor .
The shoulder-to-shoulder crowd at the on Friday was more of a zoo than other evenings. The crowd was an eclectic mix of hippies, yuppies, hillbillies and a certain hybrid of all of the above. Drive-By Truckers opened up with my second-favorite track off “The Dirty South,” entitled “Puttin’ People on the Moon” (my favorite being “Carl Perkins’ Cadillac,” to be played later).
This cut had a strong, larger-than-life drum beat provided by the Matisyahu lookalike behind the skins, Brad “The EZB” Morgan, to combat the raucous crowd noise. At this early point, I felt that the guys on stage should be playing behind chicken wire. Patterson Hood’s guitar was absent due to technical difficulties with either his axe or his amp.
I applaud his ability to stay cool. Most rock stars would have gotten all diva on the stagehands for the faulty equipment. I attribute the cooperation from Hood to the generous whiskey-swigging shared amongst the band. Normally I would have winced in shame for said acts, but I found it endearing because of the extreme amount of sincerity in the group’s music, which will stand the test of time, as solid as the Southern Longleaf Pine, the Alabama state tree.
Each time Patterson reached for the mic, about to breathe his next lyric, I would look at his partner, Mike Cooley. They work wonderful together, both looking like they’re slinging sin with some of their songs. Cooley was the tall glass of water to the right that looked like Lucifer incarnate. Cooley’s smoky voice wove fiction and fact with his every chord pluck and raspy croon.
The evening belonged to Cooley. After all, his seven-song contribution on “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark” is raising eyebrows around the web. The best track on the new album, “A Ghost to Most,” was played early and hard. Cooley’s blue collar work is not being overlooked any more. Shona Tucker’s “I’m Sorry Houston” was the only lull, the whiskey-drenched tunes coming to a screeching halt. I enjoy Shona’s backup vocals on some tracks and even enjoyed her on the more rocking “Home Field Advantage,” but the wind was sucked out of the sails.
For fans worried about the departure of Jason Isbell — do not despair. The tall tale of Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley and the rest of the ‘Truckers is alive and well. They roam free in the hills of Athens, Ga., or wherever there’s a stage and copious amounts of whiskey.
Jason Isbell was not the primary songwriter or axe-man for that matter. He came into the Truckers’ lives in 2001 and made valuable contributions, but Patterson Hood is no slouch. Hood’s stage presence is something not often discussed (he’s a lot bigger in person, too. It was like witnessing Paul Bunyan and Babe, the blue Fender). Hood comes across like your older brother’s friend, or Eddie Haskell from “Leave it to Beaver,” swindling parents with his lyrics.
Granted, Isbell’s songs were the ones that I often went back to most frequently. It’s rumored that he and bass player Shona Tucker got all Fleetwood Mac on us, and the rest is history. But despite his departure, the Truckers’ latest album charted high (#37 on the Top 200, their highest ever). The album is on constant rotation from KBCO to KCUV. This older feller in the crowd made the astute observation that the band’s performance had been “stepped up” on stage and off, perhaps to fill the void left by Isbell.
MORE PHOTOS:
All text and photos by Reverb contributor Julio Enriquez, who edits the music blog .
