There are not much bands with a discography that is competitive enough to beat the description of Drive By Truckers: American Band. Over two decades, the boys have been playing their music inspired by Springsteen, Yung, Petty, Skynard, Allman. They are constantly productive and consistently good.
Doleful 2016 found its closure on this collection, and the morose events obviously inspired Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley. The album is bursting from political topics. From the lyrical side, it is a very reflexive and subtle record – noisy guitar accords are there only to close the story. If you study the words, you will find a lot of meaty context, such as But once they banned Imagine it became the same old war its always been, once they banned Imagine it became the war it was when we were kids.
Repetitive wars? Interesting topics for America. And not just America. These are the songs in which Truckers think out loud about 50 shades of grey of reality we live in. Police violence, murder, protests, broken love, fight with depression and social pressures. None of these themes are covered in a pathetic manner, rather presented with a strong attitude. The boys are motivated to say what troubles them without any wish to be liked by everyone. Occasionally, they go a little too far with this, but it is still tolerable.
This is an album for rock people who think and whose rebellious hearts are seeing through populism, cheap rhetoric and hypocrisy. It’s neither an easy nor simple listen. This is a support for fight and the victory of healthy mind over media manipulation. Drive By Truckers represent what we like about America. It may take a couple of years for the country to get back on its feet, but as more artists start to raise the voice, the sooner the change will become palpable.
