Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing And A Curse

Known for two big-idea concept albums, Southern Rock Opera (dedicated to Lynyrd Skynyrd) and The Dirty South (a 70+ minute exploration of their Alabama roots), the Drive-by Truckers here go economical with a 45+ minute rock album. Three singers (all guitarists, to boot) ensure that moods shift often, even with every voice bearing a sand-blasted quality that grit-pocks everything. Patterson Hood tackles most of the tunes, sounding like a roughed-up Faces on "Aftermath USA," detailing drugs and deterioration against boogied-up guitars, and sounding a more sensitive side on "Goodbye" and "Little Bonnie" (another in a line of Truckers' funeral tunes). With a barrel-chested croak of a voice, Mike Cooley runs down the rudderless-ness of love and desperation on "Gravity's Gone" and slow, acoustic tenderness on "Space City." The loudest guitarist, Jason Isbell, takes on two tracks: "Easy on Yourself" and "Daylight," where he alternates between wry fury and a yearning pine for more time, more space. Isbell basks in an array of slide-guitar throwdowns, always leaving a signature sound the way Skynyrd's Allen Collins and Gary Rossington did in their glory days. All in all, this is a calmer Truckers set, less ragged and more polished–but rest assured: Their live sets still smoke like their 40 Watt Club DVD from 2005. –Andrew Bartlett

1. February 14th 3:40
2. Gravity's Gone 3:33
3. Easy On Yourself 3:28
4. Aftermath USA 3:16
5. Goodbye 6:11
6. Daylight 3:35
7. Wednesday 4:04
8. Little Bonnie 3:56
9. Space City 4:48
10. A Blessing And A Curse 5:31
11. A World Of Hurt

Mike Cooley - guitar, vocals
Patterson Hood - guitar, vocals
Jason Isbell - guitar, vocals
Brad Morgan - drums
Shonna Tucker - bass