DBT Week in Review - 11/06/09

Here is a great discussion thread of about 11 pages from the Timesdaily sent to me by CH/Zoid.

Great insight into.... shit, several of DBT/Isbell songs regarding the area of the country we grew up in. I ran with some of the sons of the folks mentioned here and worked for a few others.

One crazy ass part of the world. Sometimes I wonder how I'm still walking around.

And yes, Dawson = Lawson. (Correction: I've been notified that Dawson does not equal Lawson, which is another can of local shit. Should have checked my source, dammit!)

Old State Line Clubs - Topic Florence, AL

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Words from the Hood:

Drive-By Truckers:

"Decompressing from our late October run.
Very happy with the shows on all levels.
Don't think the band has ever played better than we have in the last six months.
As we are winding down The Righteous Path Tour of shows and starting to gear up for next years' new releases and tours, we are all very excited about what we did this year in the studio and out on the road and really fired up about going out and playing these new songs next year.

This month, the band is tying up some loose ends and starting our preparations for next year.
We are about to announce our annual Athens GA / 40 Watt Homecoming Shows and annual Nuci's Space Benefit.
I'll go ahead and spill a few of the beans to y'all now:
The weekend will be Jan. 14th - 16th."

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Live review: Drive-By Truckers at Stubb's | Austin Music Source

OK, I’m passing through the final stage of grief and find myself at acceptance at Jason Isbell’s having left the Drive-By Truckers, what, 17 years ago?

Thursday night’s show at Stubb’s, from Mike Cooley’s “Gravity’s Gone” to the last moments of Lynyrd Skynyrd rave-up “Angels and Fuselage,” which finished the encore because absolutely nothing else could follow it, was as good a show as I’ve seen them do since their third guitarist-singer-songwriter went solo. The aught-nine version of the band is decidedly funkier — that Muscle Shoals influence is burbling to the surface more. And a new one that bassist Shonna Tucker sang (from a spring release to be called “The Big To-Do”) sounded positively Motown.

But at their core these guys are Southern-fried chroniclers of hard-luck characters — Uncle John, he ain’t been right since Vietnam — and cemetary groundskeepers pondering a leap into the abyss. Uplifting, no? Good thing they can seriously rock. Guitarist-singer-songwriter-loquacious talker Patterson Hood took a lot of leads last night and all three guitarists seemed hell-bent on making as much racket as possible, no matter whom else they were fighting for solo space. I never saw Lynyrd Skynrd but I sure saw Drive-By Truckers. And I will again. Like the man said: Let there be rock.

But next time, guys, please play “Carl Perkins’ Cadillac.” Don’t make me grovel; it demeans us both.

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Concert Review: Drive-By Truckers at House of Blues (October 28) | pegasusnews.com | Dallas / Fort Worth:

"The energy was so intense, I wondered what they could do for a satisfactory encore, and halfway through the first song I got my answer as Brent Best (Slobberbone and The Drams) ambled onto stage with a guitar in hand. But then, as four guitars were clearly not enough, bandmate Jess Barr showed up for the show closer, a rousing cover of Jim Carroll's 'People Who Died.'"

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Flavorwire � Blog Archive � Chuck Klosterman Presents: Albums That Kick Writer’s Block:

"Drive-By Truckers, Southern Rock Opera

“In terms of using sparse language to explain complex ideas (and in terms of using straightforward music to express a sense of time and place), I can’t think of a better record than this. It always sounds totally real, and the details are thick (particularly about Bear Bryant, George Wallace, and Blue Oyster Cult). I probably listened to this CD 100 times while I was writing Downtown Owl. It was absolutely the single-biggest influence on that novel.”"

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Very Extremely Dangerous Singles:

"But that hasn’t stopped him from launching his latest project, a series of limited-edition 45-rpm vinyl singles by the likes of Greg Dulli, Drive-By Truckers, Heartless Bastards and Wussy in tribute to the late Eddie Hinton. The first two 45s, covers of Hinton songs by Dulli and the Truckers, come out locally on Tuesday and nationally on Nov. 24.

Blase is pressing just 2,000 copies of each record. He figures half of that run will be sold through Shake It and its mail-order operation and half through other independent record stores. Ultimately he plans a set of 10 discs."

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The 50 Best Albums of the Decade (2000-2009) :: Blogs :: List of the Day :: Paste:

"27. Drive-By Truckers: Decoration Day [New West] (2003)"

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Best of the Voodoo Experience! | Drive-By Truckers | Spin Magazine Online

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Via Zip City:

Can you name the Drive-By Truckers Songs on each studio album? - sporcle

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Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Review: Jason Isbell's band plays focused set of down-home rock - Salt Lake Tribune:

"Using Isbell's own poetic, literate songbook along with the group's guitar-based musical firepower, the State Room concert left the impression of one of the country's best emerging bands."

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Muscle Shoals Sound

Life experiences translated in song | TimesDaily.com | The Times Daily | Florence, AL:

"Mac McAnally compares songwriting to a disease, and he's not looking for a cure.

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Music

Excellent read:

pandagon.net

Raftery decides the switch is due to three factors: the emergence of late 90s/early 00s super-singable pop songs by Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys that are easy enough to sing that anyone feels comfortable trying, the popularity of “American Idol”, and the normalizing karaoke scene in “Lost In Translation”, a scene that really captures how karaoke works a lot better if people involved take their performances seriously, instead of doing a performance whose whole point is how you’re above all this. I think he’s on to something, but he doesn’t go far enough, though part of the reason is the culture changed even more since he was writing this book, which came out in 2008. I think it’s because Americans are increasingly putting a premium on fantasy and performance as valuable things, when in the past, these things were considered children’s fare that proper adults grow out of. (Unless they’re professionals, like actors or musicians.) And even though Raftery and I agree that “ironic” karaoke performances---where the person mocks the process of karaoke while performing---are stupid, I will say the ironic bent of American culture since really the late 60s on has a lot to do with this. It’s about playfulness, at its core, and once you start allowing and even requiring adults to be playful, then fantasy and performance are not far behind.

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All we need is Blog?:

"Last night I went to my first arena concert in a very long time. I've pretty much sworn off big arena shows because they are overpriced and the prices charged for food and drink are insulting. The list of people I will pay over $50 to see live is very small and until last night Bruce Springsteen wasn't on that list. Last night I had two free tickets and the next time he comes around I will probably buy a ticket."

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George Jones no fan of country crossover music:

"Country Music Hall of Famer George Jones isn't a big fan of where the genre has moved in recent years.

When asked what he thought about music by today's top country stars, the 78-year-old said that while they are good, 'they've stolen our identity.'"

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Austin City Limits - ACL Pilot episode featuring Willie Nelson now streaming � Austin City Limits

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"Get up from the table and just walk away...."

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And, just because I lived for many years a couple of blocks away.

Cliff House Centennial Celebration

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