’Anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic.’ ’ Flannery O’Connor
As a lot of young people who grew up in the South in a small town, I have tried to disavow my ’redneck past.’ What seemed repugnant, trite, and at best an FM format clich’, has now been baptized into indie-rock canon. The appropriation of Southern rock by hipster illuminati has made it somewhat acceptable to bring Lynyrd Skynyrd and .38 Special out of the closet and onto the iPod.
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
The members of Drive By Truckers have been doing their best to do just that. Through earlier periods of ’Gangstabilly’ rough and rowdy past, to becoming The Band for this generation backing Bettye LaVette and Booker T, to recording a double album chronicling the rise and fall of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Drive By Truckers have made some of the most earnest, raunchy, rocking and compelling ’alt-country’ in recent memory. And they did most of that before there even was such a thing.
Last year’s release Brighter Than Creation’s Dark has Patterson Hood and company coming out of some trying times. Maturity and songwriting craft matched with a great band form a southern gothic dynamo. You still feel the heat from their trial by fire. We’re talking about a South where ’Daddy needs a drink to hem in his demons,’ ’Bob goes to church every Sunday, every Sunday that the fish ain’t biting,’ and ’You ain’t eaten, and you ain’t slept; you and your crystal meth.’
So on June 4, the Drive By Truckers are bringing the South to . . . well, the South’527 Main St. to be exact. They will be joined by the long-suffering stalwarts of Murfreesboro music, Glossary.
Glossary’s take on our beloved homeland is a bit more hopeful and a new record in the works promises the possibility of some new material for expectant fans. As a foil for the DBTs, Glossary may be able to add a little boogie to the blues and some delightful down and dirty to the dirge. With The Last Straw rounding out the lineup, this show is not to be missed.
