p>Look
in the heart of the American South, and you'll find a darkness there.
I'm not talking about the New South of suburban Atlanta strip malls
and Ford pickups and air-conditioned Baptist megachurches here,
but the sultry, sticky, suffocating darkness of a William Faulkner
novel. The Drive By Truckers are a Southern rock band pure and simple,
and they know that heart of darkness because they drank it in with
their mothers' milk. They're not young, they're not pretty, and
they know what it's like to be a working musician on the road for
years, wondering if it will all pay off. Listen to their music,
and you'll know what it's like to grow up in a place where Jesus
Christ and your hormones are locked in mortal combat for your soul,
where getting your driver's license at 16 is to taste the asphalt
ecstasy of freedom, and where Johnny Cash sits at the right hand
of God.
The Truckers
are best first encountered live, which isn't to say anything bad
about their CD, but simply to point out the energy they bring to
each and every song can't be captured and replicated by digital
equipment, no matter what the
RIAA's lawyers might think. This must have been what
it was like to see Springsteen at the Stone Pony, before he got
big: Satanicide had just played the set before them, but the few
thousand people in the Bowery Ballroom on Halloween night were there
for DBT and DBT only. They got what they paid for: The Truckers
played for hours, and then came back for a two-hour encore, as if
playing on stage in front of a bunch of screaming, drunk maniacs
was what they'd been born to do.
DBT's
line-up boasts three guitarists, all of whom also contribute vocals.
Even more remarkably, the lean man of the band, Cooley, manages
to channel both Keith Richards (playing) and Mick Jagger (singing).
We don't know if this bears any relation to his prediliction for
dressing in drag. (And no, officer, that man did not expose himself
to the audience.)
Particular
highlights in the show were "Sinkhole," "Marry Me,"
and, of course, "Let There Be Rock." The mulletted bouncer
also insisted I mention their cover of that nice Jewish boy Alice
Cooper's "Eighteen." It was the longest single set I've
seen in my life, and I wouldn't have been surprised if they topped
it off by getting up on Sunday and running the marathon.
So, do
check out the Trucker's Web
site. They have lyrics and guitar tab there, and you
can download
a few songs and buy their latest album, Decoration
Day.
Know
a good lawyer? Write to editor@corporatemofo.com
Posted
November 2, 2003 10:15 PM