DBT Week in Review - 3/25 - 3/31

Hola, Y'all! Cheers! Pip-pip, motherfuckers!! The band is currently puttin' that sweet lovin' on everbody in Europe. Lucky hounds. We've had some fine reports coming from across the pond:

UPDATE: From the ABAAC Blog!

Another preorder bonus!
Starting April 4th at Tower Records and a bunch of cool indie retailers this bonus disc will be given away free to fans who pre-order the DBT A Blessing and A Curse CD. Supplies are limited, once they are gone, they are gone, never to be made again. CD features 2 outtakes from the new album as well as two live tracks.
CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE LIST OF STORES

Roel, from the Yahoo Group, took some video of Zip City. Check it out.

Over on Ninebullets, Rober took some pics from one of the concerts in Spain. Check 'em out.

Also from Ninebullets, Anders let's us know that ABAAC has charted in Norway. Very cool!

I was checking out some of the websites of the venues in Europe. This blurb caught my eye and gave me a chuckle. Southern colloquialisms just don't translate, do they? Check out the bold.

Voor iedereen die muziek uit de jaren 70, van Lynyrd Skynyrd via de Stones naar Neil Young & Crazy Horse, een warm hart toedraagt: Drive-By Truckers! Southern rock, prachtige americana en alt.country tearjerkers. Voor muziek en meer info, zie:

David Kelly from the Yahoo Group hooks up with this review from the UK Times. Dang, them Brits sure do write all nice and flowery:

Pop: Get those motors running - Music - Times Online

"In any contemplation of the Southern rock idiom, it’s hard to dispel images of head-down, half-hour guitar solos and drunk bikers yelling “Freebird”. It’s high time the genre had a makeover, and Drive-By Truckers are putting a whole new face on their sweet home Alabama."
...
The most recent personnel switch came after Decoration Day. At odds with the ingrained masculinity of the musical dialect, the bassist Shonna Tucker was voted into the group. “Shonna joining was one of the easiest things that’s ever happened,” says Hood. “She’s a phenomenal musician and a really cool person. As far as having a girl in the band goes, I think we’ve always had girls in the band.” His eyes glint. “We just finally got one who’s female.”

Back here in the states Robson Bassett writes his first DBT review and has it published in his law school's paper. Good on ya, Robson.

“Alabama A__ Whuppin”

"The Drive-By Truckers (Truckers, DBT) rolled into my hometown of Charlottesville on a late Wednesday night in February to open a quick southeast tour before heading to Europe and releasing their sixth studio album A Blessing and a Curse. I had some concern over the fact that the venue was Starr Hill, only because of the possibility that my ears would still be bleeding the next morning during Environmental Law due to the three-guitar attack of Jason Isbell, Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood. The band apparently had different plans as they decided to bring their good friend John Neff (Athens, GA musician extraordinaire) to join them for the entire show on pedal steel guitar. While some may compare the three-guitar attack DBT to Southern rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd, the four-guitar presence turned into an all-out blitzkrieg assault throughout most of the night."

American's have always done well bastardizing certain types of music. Check out this evil spawn mash-up of DBT and Vanilla Ice. Control + F the page and search for Vanilla Ice.

To veer away from DBT a bit, I want to highlight a post from Bill in Iowa on the Yahoo Group regarding the passing of Buck Owen. I, too, grew up watching Hee-Haw. "I searched the world over and thought I found true love. But you found another and 'prrrrrp' you were gone. Where oh where are you tonight...." Cheers to Bill for the following post and cheers to Buck Owen:

Damn, damn, damn.

When I was a younger man I had different answers for the question “What’s your favorite band?”. When I was 18 it was Guns ‘n’ Roses, when I was 25 it was the Black Crowes, when I was 30 it was the Truckers. But in the last couple of years I’ve started hearing the words “Buck Owens and the Buckaroos” come out of my mouth.

I grew up with my parents’ Buck records, especially the live Carnegie Hall album and the Tiger By The Tail album, both of which are available on excellent expanded CD re-issues through Sundazed. Buck and Don and the boyz were equal parts rock and twang…and those suits! I’ve been picking up old Buck LPs in record bins for a while (just scored Greatest Hits Vol. 2 the other night) and it’s amazing how exciting his “country” music was during the Beatles’ “rock” era. It was very, very similar, right down to Ringo’s vocal take on “Act Naturally”.

I also grew up with Hee Haw, although it’s sad that all of the obits popping up on the web (Buck died today) are calling him “Hee Haw co-host Buck Owens”. His career with the Buckaroos preceding Hee Haw was more popular than people give it credit (more than 20 #1 country hits, according to the article I was just reading), and I must admit that I prefer the hip Buck to the pickin’ and grinnin’ Buck. Still, especially if you were a farm kid, Buck playing that red, white and blue guitar on TV every weekend was something to look forward to. I recently rented a couple of the Hee Haw DVDs from Netflix, and that show freakin’ rocked musically (when they weren’t doing 3rd-rate Laugh-In skits).

Anyway, I never did get to see him live, and maybe it was better that I didn’t see him as a senior citizen and still think of his live shows as the 60’s versions (complete with screaming teen fans and Don Rich’s twangin’ Tele).

Bill in Iowa"

While we're off topic, Elvis, The King's home if finally getting National Landmark status:

"MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The home of the King of Rock 'n' Roll joined the homes of presidents past and present in becoming a National Historic Landmark Monday.

Graceland, where Elvis Presley died in 1977, joins the White House, Mount Vernon and Monticello in receiving the country's highest designation for historic properties".

Here's a "Mad Rambling" from Patterson regarding the King:

MEMPHIS, EGYPT (revisited)

(All this water into wine stuff is fine, but what I really need right now is
A big long piece of steel to whomp someone with)

Two summers ago, on the anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, I wrote an essay about the parallels between Rock and Roll and religion (as well as how the boom stand killed Elvis). It was, like much of my writing at the time, a messy affair, full of big, half-baked ideas. I threw a lot against the wall with little care for what stuck and what didn't.
.....
Now it all seems like two lifetimes ago. A few weeks later, 9/11 occurred and suddenly everything (and everyone) changed. The next day, we got our new CDs back from the pressing plant and hit the road. (What else could we do?) I look back at what I was writing at the time and can't fathom the reckless disregard with which I could throw together words. I'm not altogether happy with the change, but as I said, everything did change and that's just the way it is.

I have always been drawn to the impossible dream. Rock and Roll was always the only way I could come up with to do what I always knew had to be done. Rock and Roll turned a poor boy from Mississippi into a messiah that is still worshipped decades after his death. His music had long since ceased to be relevant by the later years of his life, yet it somehow seems so damned important all these years later. Elvis is the grandest example in our lifetime, but certainly not close to the only one and that storyline still resonates and fascinates me all these years later.

"Rock and Roll as a path to redemption and a way out".
In my youth, it was Bruce Springsteen and how he escaped New Jersey to fame and fortune. The story we told with our album Southern Rock Opera tells basically the same story, only using the mythology surrounding Lynyrd Skynyrd to do it. (Their ascent into the pantheon of fame was even more unlikely and their all-too literal descent the stuff of fine literature). When I was sixteen, I ran away from home to see Springsteen in Starkville MS. The show changed my life and showed me just what was possible if you believed enough and Rocked with all your might.

Rock and Roll did not abandon Elvis. Elvis abandoned Rock and Roll.
Elvis lost sight of what made him holy.
Who can blame him?
Many preachers have led their flock away from God in his name (for the
Money, glory, power, to want to be Jesus or even God himself)

Elvis didn't die for anyone's sins but his own, but his most damning sin seemed to me to be his losing himself. He no longer drove the machine and got too lost to watch over the drivers shoulder. He got fat and bloated on his own money, fame, and legend. He began using boom stands because they freed him of the earthly constraints of having to deal with the reality of his own size and gravity.
That long straight piece of steel that holds your microphone in place is the straight and narrow that binds you to real world.
If you get too fat, you knock it over and it reminds you to lose some of
that lardass and eat a few less fried banana sandwiches.
And if some over zealous fanatic rushes the stage, it's a very handy weapon
(so have no FEAR MOTHERFUCKER)

No, my friend, Rock and Roll didn't kill Elvis.
In the end neither did The Colonel, Priscilla, or RCA or Hollywood or Vegas.
God didn't exactly kill Jesus either, I guess.
(If Jesus had a straight stand, he might have been able to fight his way off
that damned mountain).

Now it's two years later. Elvis and Ronnie are still dead (like Franco I guess).
Springsteen is still out preaching the word. He seems like a likable fella and although I'm no longer passionate about his newer music, he's still one of the finest preachers in the redemptive powers of Rock and Roll and I applaud him for surviving and continuing. The last thing the world needs now is another dead Rock Star.

We're back out on the road, touring behind another new album. I plan on saying that on a fairly regular basis for the rest of my life and I have every intention of that being a very long time.

Rock will set you free
and freedom can kill ya quicker than anything, but is life worth living without it?

See you at The Rock Show,
Patterson Hood

(August 13, 2003 - just south of Vancouver BC. Adapted from (and using parts of) original "Memphis Egypt" essay, 8/16/2001)

Good Stuff!

Below are the answers to the 10 trivia questions put forth by Jason Isbell from last week's WIR post:

1. This one's a two-parter: Who sang that oh so dramatic backup part on Christopher Cross' big-tittied hit "Ride Like the Wind?" AND who played the guitar solo?

Michael McDonald and Eric Johnson

2. Who wrote "Achy Breaky Heart?" His daughter's hot.

Don Von Tress

3. Which of the nominees for NuSkin male lotion's 2003 "man of the year" wrote the 90's crossover smash "I Swear?"

Gary Baker

4. Mister Mister had two big hits. One was "Take These Broken Wings." What was the name of the other one (spelling counts)?

"Kyrie Eleison"

5. What the hell does that mean? (See #4)

Lord (God) Go with me (Us). It's Latin.

6. What was the name of the abominable record Cher made in Muscle Shoals (actually Sheffield)?

3614 Jackson Highway

7. Which STYX tour introduced the world to Mr. Roboto?

Killroy Was Here

8. Name the record by Glass Tiger that featured such hits as "Someday" and "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)."

Thin Red Line

9. Another two parter: Which bad song by America was sampled in which guilty pleasure by Janet Jackson?

"Ventura Highway" and "Someone To Call My Lover"

10. In the Meat Loaf classic "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" what exactly would he not do?

"Be screwin' around" (Cheatin' on his woman).

Heh, The Gary Baker Band use to play my sister's high school lead outs.

Below are some music trivia questions from Patterson:

Patterson: How about this:

1. What was the B side to Terry Jacks' immortal one hit wonder "Season in the Sun"?

2. What 80's-90's alternative rock band covered it as a bonus track on an album (their third I believe)?

3. Who had the original #1 hit with "Cats in the Cradle"?

4. How did he die?

5. Wayne Newton had a top ten single the summer of 1972. (Around the same time as Heart of Gold and Horse With No Name). Name it.

6. What was the only notable 70's hard rock hit to have yodelling in it? The band was called Focus.

7. Who produced Grand Funk Railroad's smash hits "We're An American Band" and "Loco-Motion"?

8. Who produced Meat Loaf's Bat Out Of Hell Album?

9. Who was an unlikely duet partner on Bing Crosby's final X-mas special?

10. What X-mas TV tradition did Claudine Longette's murder inditement end?

That's it for this week. Leave a comment and enjoy "The Rock Shows"!