Drive-By Truckers articles

[Tequila Cowboy]

I can relate to Matt. I bet there are a bunch of folks that wish they could write songs like Patterson, myself included.

I've been working on writing an album worth of songs for over a year, my first in almost 18 years, and I frequently just get stopped dead in my tracks because of the quality of songwriters that I know admire so I'm very familiar with Matt's pain.

[dbtfan4life]

that was an excellent read!

[Tequila Cowboy]

Patterson Hood Touts Drive-By Truckers' New Unity

[John A Arkansawyer]

Patterson Hood Touts Drive-By Truckers' New Unity

You gotta love it!

"Have they torn down the Astrodome yet?" he asks.

When informed that indeed, the Eighth Wonder of the World was still standing, but a vacant shell of its former self, he is realistic.

"Well, I guess we'll never be playing there," he says. "But I loved the movie they filmed inside there where the kid builds the wings. What was the name of that? [Note: it's Robert Altman's 1970 film Brewster McCloud.] That was awesome!"

[Rocky]

I frequently just get stopped dead in my tracks because of the quality of songwriters that I know admire so I'm very familiar with Matt's pain.

Hey man you can't write songs like Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Joni Mitchell or Bruce Springsteen. You've got to write songs like The Tequila Cowboy!

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Anyone posted about this? Apologies in advance if I missed it. The Raleigh News & Observer's David Menconi made several contributions to Rolling Stone's recent Southern Comforts: 25 Best Songs About the South feature, including this write up on "The Three Alabama Icons".

[Rocky]

How about a thread bump?

http://www.examiner.com/article/drive-b ... -of-sorrow

[Clams]

Great interview with Patterson in Aquarium Drunkard....

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2015/10 ... interview/

[TW_2.0]

Great interview with Patterson in Aquarium Drunkard....

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2015/10 ... interview/

Nice

[Daddy_played_poker]

Great interview with Patterson in Aquarium Drunkard....

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2015/10 ... interview/

It was really interesting to read about the sequencing for the different versions of the record. Since Lookout Mountain is my all time fave I'm glad that PH was open to some other thoughts about including it AND having it kick-off the record.

[Tequila Cowboy]

'Surviving's Cool': Drive-By Truckers' Patterson Hood Talks New Live Record 'It's Great To Be Alive!'

I loved this part as I think it touches on years of conversation here at 3DD (Beantown remembers I'm sure) as well as things Patterson has spoken about before:

How do you think history will document Drive-By Truckers?

I don’t know, we’re kind of practicing a dying art. I’ve always felt like if we’d been doing what we were doing a decade or so earlier we’d probably have been a bigger band. We do this thing. I’m proud of it. I think we’ve written some real good songs, made some real good records, played some real good shows. I don’t know if anyone will remember or not. You never know. No one knew who the fuck Big Star was, but now everybody knows Big Star. At the same time, there are bands that were huge in their day that no one really remembers. You don’t know what will click with some future generation, and people have so much music at their disposal now that it’s become sort of disposable. And we’ve never looked at anything we’ve done as disposable. Whether it’s from being pretentious or thick-headed or whatever, it was always important -- to us, anyway -- at every point in the game. The things we did that didn’t work, it wasn’t for a lack of trying. We never put a single song on a record that wasn’t there intentionally. At the time, it was always done with the intent of it working. We never phoned it in. Our worst eras of the band weren’t for a lack of trying. Sometimes it don’t work, and if you’re going to be trying new things and pushing yourself, you’re going to have situations, records, or songs, or whatever, that just don’t work.

[schlanky]

"...people have so much music at their disposal now that it’s become sort of disposable. And we’ve never looked at anything we’ve done as disposable."

Brings to mind:

And nothing is disposable
At least it's never been that way to me

And I suppose this bit from the same song would also apply as well:

We started out with nothing
Wild plans and big ideas, and dreams
You were quick to swing the hammer
Always fast with some ingenious scheme

Sometimes we argued violently
But forged it out of bedrock into steel
Our foundations were so solid
And our instincts based on something very real

"Goodbye" is #1 of the songs I've not seen live that I'd really really like to see live.
....
Great article.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

We never put a single song on a record that wasn’t there intentionally.

That pretty much blows any "filler" arguments out the window. I seem to recall more than one of those at 3DD.

[brett27295]

We never put a single song on a record that wasn’t there intentionally.

That pretty much blows any "filler" arguments out the window. I seem to recall more than one of those at 3DD.

Devil's advocate...has a band ever admitted to adding "filler" to an album?

[Tequila Cowboy]

Devil's advocate...has a band ever admitted to adding "filler" to an album?

Probably not but I just don't think the kind of bands that are reasonable comps to DBT ever do "filler" period. I'm not even sure that Ryan Adams does "filler" and he'd be the first I'd point to as to someone who might. People who make their living this way just plain write songs. They understand that some are going to click with the audience more than others but they sometimes might not even know which ones. Filler to me has always been the stuff a pop artist puts on a record to "fill" the minutes where there isn't a single. I just plain don't think that applies to working musicians who write from the heart even when said heart might lead them astray from time to time.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Another new interview, this one from The Bluegrass Situation.

PATTERSON HOOD ON MUSIC, MOVING AROUND, AND MAKING PEACE WITH SOUTHERN HERITAGE

[John A Arkansawyer]

Another new interview, this one from The Bluegrass Situation.

PATTERSON HOOD ON MUSIC, MOVING AROUND, AND MAKING PEACE WITH SOUTHERN HERITAGE

If there is a single injustice involving the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that stands out above all the others, it's their consistent snubbing of Todd Rundgren.

[Clams]

Another new interview, this one from The Bluegrass Situation.

PATTERSON HOOD ON MUSIC, MOVING AROUND, AND MAKING PEACE WITH SOUTHERN HERITAGE

I think it's something that's definitely on all our minds. I'm curious to see, moving forward, exactly where the next record goes. We're actually pretty close to starting another record. I've been writing a lot for it; Cooley's writing a lot for it.

I think the general mindset is definitely a part of what we're writing, it's kind of where we are as a country. We're not going to get past any of this shit until we can talk about it. It's an uncomfortable conversation, so I understand why people shy away from wanting to talk about our country's history with race. And, you know, we're these white dudes from the South talking about it ... but whites dudes from the South need to talk about it. It doesn't just need to be black people saying black lives matter. It needs to be something that we all can talk about and move forward from or else we're going to not move forward.

I was certainly one of those people that, when Obama was elected, thought, "Oh man, we have turned a corner!" I still idealistically hang on to some of that, but actually there's a lot of work left to do. I think it was probably overly idealistic to think that that was going to be the beginning of the end of that conversation. It was just the beginning of the beginning of that conversation, you know?

I'd love to see this record come out in time for election season next year. It could hit hard and get noticed - remember Righteous Path in 08?

[Rocky]

Patterson consistantly delivers the goods. Great interview and I had no idea Todd Rundgren wasn't in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

MAPPING DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS' ROAD TO SUCCESS
Patterson Hood relives the five shows that took the band from small clubs to the country's most iconic stages.
Written by Jeff Vrabel /Photography by Erika Goldring/Getty Images

[OldCloverdale]

Shoals musician Patterson Hood to speak at UNA commencement


Frontman and guitarist for Drive-By Truckers Patterson Hood will speak at UNA’s Fall 2015 Commencement in Flowers Hall Dec. 12. College of Nursing and College of Arts and Sciences graduates will participate in the 10 a.m. ceremony, and College of Business and College of Education and Human Sciences graduates will participate in the 2 p.m. ceremony.

“We thought we could enlist speakers who represent those (musical) dimensions of the Shoals. We’re looking for ways to connect with the community. When we starting talking about music, Patterson Hood’s (name) came forward. We looking at others, but we didn’t think they brought as much as him.”

http://m.florala.net/news/shoals-musici ... l?mode=jqm

[jimmyjack]

If this has been posted already, I missed it:

http://www.oxfordamerican.org/magazine/ ... -tan-sound

Terrific piece by Patterson about one of the greats. I also just finished Kristen Hersh's book about Vic, which is highly, HIGHLY recommended.

[Rocky]

Thanks J.J.

I read that Patterson was writing a piece on his favorite songwriter for the music issue of Oxford American and guessed it was Vic Chesnutt but, as I don't subscribe and they don't put much of the magazine on-line, I had forgotten about it. So glad it made it on-line and so glad you posted it.

Going to listen to some Vic Chesnutt right now.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Thanks J.J.

I read that Patterson was writing a piece on his favorite songwriter for the music issue of Oxford American and guessed it was Vic Chesnutt but, as I don't subscribe and they don't put much of the magazine on-line, I had forgotten about it. So glad it made it on-line and so glad you posted it.

Going to listen to some Vic Chesnutt right now.

I strongly recommend purchasing the entire issue as it's full of great writing. In addition to Patterson's piece on Vic, there's also an excellent article on Athens penned by David Barbe but those are just the tip of the iceberg. As per usual, the annual Southern Music Issue also comes with a CD that's just brimming with tasty goodness.

[Smitty]

If this has been posted already, I missed it:

http://www.oxfordamerican.org/magazine/ ... -tan-sound

Terrific piece by Patterson about one of the greats. I also just finished Kristen Hersh's book about Vic, which is highly, HIGHLY recommended.

I wish more people would listen to Vic's records. I frown on calling most signer-songwriter's lyrics as poetry, but not in Vic's case. He was truly a unique and original artist. Never has a musician's death affected me as much as the Christmas he passed.

[Rocky]

Mike Cooley on the Drive-By Truckers' Legacy and Future

http://flagpole.com/music/music-feature ... and-future

[Duke Silver]

Mike Cooley on the Drive-By Truckers' Legacy and Future

http://flagpole.com/music/music-feature ... and-future

“We all want artistic freedom until about the third hour of staring at that blank sheet of paper, and then we’re just dying for someone to tell us what the hell to do,” Cooley says with a laugh, adding that some of his spare time is now devoted to forming songs for his first solo release, a move familiar to his counterpart Hood.

[ramonz]

Dude, you're entitled to your opinion. But you're not entitled to getting the facts wrong. (insert middle finger emoji)

http://www.houstonpress.com/music/jason ... rt-8158569

The Drive-By Trucker cuts elicited fairly positive reactions, which shouldn't surprise anyone. And in fairness, the more distance Isbell puts between himself and his old band, the more apparent it becomes that the songs he wrote surpassed most of their usual output. "Decoration Day," written from stories about his family he promised not to tell anyone, and "Never Gonna Change," an electric middle finger from a North Alabama reprobate, were always more direct and accessible than Patterson Hood's George Wallace apologia. And along with "Outift," they reminded me how much I miss that incarnation of the Truckers.

[beantownbubba]

Dude, you're entitled to your opinion. But you're not entitled to getting the facts wrong. (insert middle finger emoji)

http://www.houstonpress.com/music/jason ... rt-8158569

The Drive-By Trucker cuts elicited fairly positive reactions, which shouldn't surprise anyone. And in fairness, the more distance Isbell puts between himself and his old band, the more apparent it becomes that the songs he wrote surpassed most of their usual output. "Decoration Day," written from stories about his family he promised not to tell anyone, and "Never Gonna Change," an electric middle finger from a North Alabama reprobate, were always more direct and accessible than Patterson Hood's George Wallace apologia. And along with "Outift," they reminded me how much I miss that incarnation of the Truckers.

OTOH, if that's what you think Patterson's work is about then it makes some sense to favor Isbell's work. And then there's this, which at least constitutes truth in advertising:

"Personal Bias: I initially thought the DBTs and Isbell were both weaker for the split. I now only believe half of that statement."

[Flea]

Dude, you're entitled to your opinion. But you're not entitled to getting the facts wrong. (insert middle finger emoji)

http://www.houstonpress.com/music/jason ... rt-8158569

The Drive-By Trucker cuts elicited fairly positive reactions, which shouldn't surprise anyone. And in fairness, the more distance Isbell puts between himself and his old band, the more apparent it becomes that the songs he wrote surpassed most of their usual output. "Decoration Day," written from stories about his family he promised not to tell anyone, and "Never Gonna Change," an electric middle finger from a North Alabama reprobate, were always more direct and accessible than Patterson Hood's George Wallace apologia. And along with "Outift," they reminded me how much I miss that incarnation of the Truckers.

OTOH, if that's what you think Patterson's work is about then it makes some sense to favor Isbell's work. And then there's this, which at least constitutes truth in advertising:

"Personal Bias: I initially thought the DBTs and Isbell were both weaker for the split. I now only believe half of that statement."

I personally know Pete, and have for longer than I have known you guys. Pete is a helluva guy. He's a huge Slobberbone fan, only slightly more so than his appreciation for the DBTs in the Isbell days. He's only opining, which he is paid to do. His family I think has limited his exposure to many things since his twins were born (girls, maybe 10 years old now?). I should reach out to him and drag his ass to Homecoming next year. He would fit right in.