Here’s what I wrote about DBT last year:
The best rock band of the 2000s got there not because they were the prettiest-sounding or had the best connections. They just rocked the hardest. If you can name another group out there that could have lost a talent like Jason Isbell and then went on to make the best album of their career (Brighter Than Creation’s Dark), I’m dying to hear it.
What DBT represents for small-town losers like me is something far greater: the ability to be something bigger while staying true to who you are. Like Skynyrd before them, they accepted Southern stereotypes as part of who they were while also fighting against the negative things people believed they’d be. (Somewhat.) Both Skynyrd and DBT are uniquely positioned to show that those of us from the South are just as smart (and probably smarter, considering many didn’t get Daddy’s Money) as the Coastal Elites.
Patterson Hood has never attempted to hide a very unique and telling voice. It’s one of the most uniquely American voices in all of music history. Same with Mike Cooley, one of our most underrated songwriters of the last thirty years. Few people on earth have this talent; even fewer are this badass when using it.
I have little to add except that, with another year on my belt, the songs grow nearer to my heart and even more real; “Puttin’ People on the Moon” is America 2018. American Band is too, but it doesn’t seem destined to be anyone’s favorite.
Will Warren’s Top Five Drive-By Truckers Albums:
- Brighter Than Creation’s Dark (2008)
- Southern Rock Opera (2001)
- The Dirty South (2004)
- Decoration Day (2003)
- English Oceans (2014)
Seth Hughes’ Top Five Drive-By Truckers Albums:
- Decoration Day (2003)
- The Dirty South (2004)
- Brighter Than Creation’s Dark (2008)
- Southern Rock Opera (2001)
- Pizza Deliverance (1999)
