Drive-By Truckers

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How the Drive-By Truckers became a success story confounds even its members.

"This is our 25th year together and it's still a mystery to me," says Patterson Hood. "I just know that it works and I'm glad it works."

It didn't work immediately. The group - founded in Alabama and based in Athens, Ga. - had released three albums and was in a state of near collapse when the band's "Southern Rock Opera" began getting national press and praise in 2001. The album was a two-disc exploration of the legend of Lynyrd Skynyrd, a rumination of growing up in the South and a celebration of arena rock. It was a terrible idea, but one that worked gloriously and landed the group on best-of-the-year lists around the country.

While Hood recognizes a connection between the succeeding albums (especially 2004's "The Dirty South"), he says the group has consciously avoided doing another themed work or trying to recreate the sound of the album.

"The very worst mistake we could've made is to do that again," says Hood. "That's what record companies always want you to do - repeat it, but be a little louder and catchier."

The group will release a new album called "The Big To Do" in March.

"It's the most rocking record we've made in a while," says Hood. "It's not a concept record, but there are definitely a lot of story-type songs."

The group added the song "Birthday Boy" by fellow DBT founding singer-songwriter Mike Cooley to "The Big To Do" after the initial album had been mastered.

"I didn't care if we had to remaster it," says Hood. "It was the missing piece on the album."

It wasn't as if the band had any shortage of songs, though. A second album, recorded during the same sessions is, according to Hood, "90 percent done."

"We'll come home from the road and we'll fiddle with it some," says Hood. "It's a totally different record from this one. We recorded about 30 songs and there was some really strong stuff that just didn't fit on this record."

Part of the reason the group decided to record two albums' worth of material had to do the group coming to terms with scheduling family lives with being in a touring band.

"I've got two small children," says Hood. "I didn't want to be that character from that Harry Chapin song ("Cat's In the Cradle") where you don't know your kids. I'm learning to turn downtime into useful time. I've learned to write on the road, so rather than sitting on the bus drinking, which can be fun, I can do something productive."

There must be some comfort in knowing that after years of grinding it out in clubs where getting an audience was in iffy proposition, the Truckers have a hard-core group of fans who crowd every show.

"I'm still terrified that one day they won't come," says Hood. "I never felt that comfort zone was a definitive thing. I look out at every show with a sigh of relief. Times are hard and a lot of bands that have historically done well on the road are hurting. A lot of this is the result of us putting in a lot of hard work - but there are a lot of people who work hard and still lose their jobs!"

© 2010, Knoxville News Sentinel
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