Bledsoe: Drive-By Truckers' 'Big To-Do' does the job

Posted March 21, 2010 at midnight
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Drive-By Truckers

"The Big To-Do," Drive-By Truckers (ATO)

Anyone who wonders where real rock 'n' roll has gone need only look to the Athens, Ga.-based, Alabama-born Drive-By Truckers. Since releasing "Southern Rock Opera" in 2001, the Truckers have been on a roll. The band has had plenty of peaks (2004's "The Dirty South" is a pure masterpiece) and very few valleys (2008's "Brighter Than Creation's Dark" was unfocused and overlong), and the band's last release (2009's "The Fine Print") was a nice collection of leftovers, covers and musical oddities, but not really essential.

"The Big To-Do," however, brings the band back with a full studio album featuring all the band's strengths.

Co-lead singer-songwriters-vocalists Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley crank out blue-collar rock, true stories, tall tales and ruminations about life on the bottom of the prosperity pool with ease. Cooley's picture of a no-nonsense hooker on "The Birthday Boy" is both a great rock song and a slice-of-life story.

Hood's "The Wig He Made Her Wear" is a true modern murder ballad, and his "The Flying Wallendas" is a dreamy depiction of ill-fated real-life high wire artists. And, bassist/vocalist Shonna Tucker, whose contributions to "Creation's Dark" were an album low-point, emerges on "The Big To-Do" with two contributions that hold up well with those of Hood and Cooley.

It's taken a long time for the Truckers to get the kind of recognition they deserve.

In some ways Drive-By Truckers are the Southern equivalent of Bruce Springsteen. Both represent the best traditions of rock and working-class storytelling.

Wayne Bledsoe may be reached at 865-342-6444 or bledsoew@knoxville.com. He is also the host of "All Over the Road" midnight Saturdays to 4 a.m. Sundays on WDVX-FM.

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