Mountain Echo

Issue date: 1/30/08 Section: Life

In a time where true songwriting has given way to senseless catch phrases and dime-a-dozen pop hooks, where true musical appeal has given way to blatant commercialism and where real artists are constantly being replaced by mindless major-label puppets, bands like the Drive-By Truckers are hard to come by.

For over a decade, these Georgia rockers have shaped their signature blend of hard Southern rock and traditional country to become one of the premiere bands in music today.

All of the band's albums are true testaments to American culture, each song telling an individual story of middle-class hardship and the Southern experience. Presented in the Trucker style, there is one part Lynyrd Skynyrd and one part Neil Young, equaling a seamless blend of Southern-rock, blues-infused country, and down-home folk that leaves all other genres in the dust.

Within this varying sound, dubbed "alt-country" by critics, the one constant remains the band's unflinching songwriting, a fact that rings more true than ever on the Drive-By Truckers' eight album, "Brighter Than Creations Dark."

The band lost one of its core songwriters, Jason Isbell, to a solo career after 2006's "A Blessing and a Curse," yet the band's quality remains unchanged on their latest record.

The remaining members created one of Drive-By Truckers' strongest albums in years.

In his place, original members Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, have more than stepped up their personal songwriting efforts, with bassist Shonna Tucker introducing original material.

Tucker's soft, country-tinged voice adds a whole new dynamic to the Trucker sound otherwise dominated by the rugged voices of Hood and Cooley, and her tales of lost love easily match the songs of her seasoned partners, especially her heartbreaking lyrics on "The Purgatory Line":

"This ain't exactly hell / It sure as hell ain't heaven / I love you like the dickens and I miss you like the Devil / I guess I'll do my time waitin' in this purgatory line."

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