Drive-By Truckers

Drive-By Truckers are an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, active since 1996. They work in southern rock and alternative country, and are closely associated with rock, americana and country as well. The group forms around Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, who are the only original members remaining.

Formation and early years

The band begins in Athens in 1996, founded by Hood and Cooley after earlier work together in Adam's House Cat, a band that had been named among the top ten best unsigned bands in a Musician contest in the late 1980s. Hood is the son of bassist David Hood of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Drive-By Truckers develop a reputation through constant touring and an active website, building a dedicated following early on.

The first two albums are Gangstabilly in 1998 and Pizza Deliverance in 1999. After those releases, the band tours nationally and issues a live album, Alabama Ass Whuppin', first released by Second Heaven Records and later re-released by Terminus Records.

Southern Rock Opera and critical recognition

In 2001 the band releases Southern Rock Opera, a double album and song cycle that uses the rise and fall of Lynyrd Skynyrd as a metaphor for the culture of the American South. It is self-released on Soul Dump Records before being re-issued by Mercury and Lost Highway Records in 2002. The album draws strong praise, including a four-star review in Rolling Stone, and the band is named Band of the Year by No Depression.

Line-up changes and mid-2000s albums

Before the next album, guitarist Rob Malone leaves and is replaced by Jason Isbell, a guitarist and songwriter from Greenhill, Alabama. During his five years with the band, Isbell contributes a number of notable songs. In 2003 the band signs to New West for Decoration Day, another widely praised release. Although it is not a concept album, its songs share themes of difficult decisions, marriage, incest, break-ups, revenge, murder and suicide.

Bassist Earl Hicks leaves in December 2003 and is replaced by Shonna Tucker, who had previously guested on “Sounds Better in the Song” on upright bass. The Dirty South follows in 2004 as another concept album, expanding the band’s focus on Southern mythology with songs about Sam Phillips and the Sun Records circle, John Henry and his hammer, and a three-song suite about Sheriff Buford Pusser.

After further touring, the band records A Blessing and a Curse at Fidelitorium Recording Studio in Forsyth County, North Carolina, with David Barbe producing again. The album is released in 2006 and reflects a broader sound, drawing less on the Lynyrd Skynyrd comparison and more on early-1970s British rock such as The Rolling Stones and Faces, with Tom Petty also a stronger influence. Around this period, John Neff returns to the band, having first played on Gangstabilly and later on Pizza Deliverance and Decoration Day; he becomes a full-time member on guitar and pedal steel. Jason Isbell leaves in 2007.

Later collaborations and releases

Spooner Oldham joins for a run of acoustic performances known as The Dirt Underneath Tour. The band also works as backing musicians for Bettye LaVette’s 2007 album The Scene of the Crime, which reaches number one on Billboard’s Blues Chart and is nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album. They later back Booker T Jones on Potato Hole, his first recording in more than a decade.

The band’s eighth album, Brighter Than Creation's Dark, is released in 2008. It is a nineteen-track album produced by David Barbe with artwork by Wes Freed, and it reaches number 37 on the Billboard 200. It also includes the first song contributions from Shonna Tucker. In 2010 the band issues The Big To-Do on ATO Records.

Style and membership

Drive-By Truckers are noted for a three-guitar lineup and for songs about working-class life in economically depressed small towns in the American South. They are often linked to the Southern rock movement and to jam bands, but their writing and approach are described as more cerebral and irreverent than either label suggests.

Members and former members associated with the band include Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley, John Neff, Jay Gonzalez, Brad Morgan, David Barbe, Jason Isbell, Shonna Tucker, Earl Hicks, Rob Malone, Spooner Oldham, Matt Lane, Matt Patton and others listed in connection with the group.