Drive-By Truckers - The Mike Cooley Files

2007 ain't quite through yet, but 2008 is bringing a triple dose of good news from one of my favorite bands, Drive-By Truckers, as they are releasing a brand spanking new album Brighter Than Creation's Dark and getting their back catalog released on vinyl and happen to be stopping in Salt Lake for a show on February 20th. I have no idea what or where The Paladium is (must be a new venue, but can I maybe cross my fingers that the old Zephyr Club is re-opening under this name?) but that is where I'll be on that cold winter evening. If you haven't experienced DBT live for their Rock Show, you haven't truly experienced Rock 'N Roll. I'm dead serious.

The Truckers are one of the most criminally under-appreciated bands in America - the only band in the country I can think of that has been producing music at or above their level this decade is Wilco. Much like the Jeff Tweedy & Co. Drive-By Truckers are a truly American experience. I think one of the reasons they are discounted by some is because they are often labeled "southern rock", probably because of their 2001 concept album Southern Rock Opera.
If pressed, I would simply call them Americana - but if you like your rock with a pedal steel and some twang in the electric guitars, this band is definitely for you. The band is down one stellar songwriter in Jason Isbell (playing in at Suede on February 2nd), but they still boast two great ones in Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley (plus Shonna Tucker even takes lead vocals on a few of her songs on the new album!).

I'm gonna end up posting more on DBT in the coming while, so I figured I'd start with a killer mix of my favorite band member, Mike Cooley. His songs are detailed enough to feel personal, yet broadly themed to feel universal and he can turn a line better than almost anyone writing in rock today. Oh, and dude freakin' owns on the kind of guitar licks that make you pump your fist in the air.

Some of my favorite Cooley lines:

"Well, my daddy didn’t pull out, but he never apologized / Rock and Roll means well, but it can’t help tellin’ young boys lies." - from "Marry Me"

"And don't ever let them make you feel like saying what you want is unbecoming / If you were supposed to watch you're mouth all the time I doubt your eyes would be above it." - from "Gravity's Gone"

"You say you're tired of me taking you for granted / Waiting' up till the last minute to call you up and see what you want to do / Well you're only fifteen, girl, you ain't got no secretary / And "for granted" is a mighty big word for a country girl like you." - from "Zip City"

"We've been this close to death before, we were just too drunk to know it / Guess the price of being sobers being scared out of your mind ... Living in fear's just another way of dying before your time." -- from "Shut Up and Get on the Plane"

DBT: The Cooley Files
(pay close attention to "Space City" and "Loaded Gun in the Closet" - the lyrics and musical accompaniment are unbelievably beautiful)

A Ghost to Most
Marry Me (live)
Space City
Guitar Man Upstairs
Women Without Whiskey
Where The Devil Don't Stay
Loaded Gun in the Closet
Gravity's Gone
Zip City
Shut Up and Get on the Plane