Drive-By Truckers: The Big To-Do

Hailing from Athens, GA, the Drive-By Truckers have been delivering their brand of Skynyrd and Stones inspired rock and roll for almost fifteen years now.  Perfectly capturing the frank desperation of the deepest of the deep South, the songs of leaders Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley provoke thought while also offering a raucous, rocking good time, on the surface.  Following the departure of Jason Isbell, whose Ryan Adams-esque anthems brought some semblance of pop sensibility to the band, the Truckers rebounded with 2008’s Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, an exquisite work that not only reinforced the strengths of Hood’s and Cooley’s writing, but also introduced listeners to the writing and vocal capabilities of bassist Shonna Tucker.  These strengths are only further cemented on The Big To-Do, the ninth studio album from the Drive-By Truckers.  Dominated by Patterson Hood’s usual desolate sketches of Southern living, this album explores themes of alcoholism (“The Fourth Night Of My Drinking”), absentee parents (“Daddy Learned To Fly”), murder (“That Wig He Made Her Wear”), loneliness on the road (“Santa Fe”) and dead-end jobs (“This F***ing Job”).  One thing, however, that sets this album apart from the band’s recent work is the sense of melodicism present in these songs.  Musically, this is the band’s most accessible work since the Jason Isbell days of Decoration Day and The Dirty South.  While Hood’s lyrics are as dark as ever, gone are the frantic freakouts and wrist-slitting dirges of yore.  Not that these are pop songs, in the very least.  These are deceptive numbers – light and airy on the surface, dark and evil underneath.  Like much of the best music out there.  And this is some of the best.  The only real complaint about this disc is the relative dearth of Mike Cooley-penned numbers, with only three to Hood’s eight.  Fortunately, those three are up there with the best of Cooley’s work - “Birthday Boy” just completely rocks, while “Get Downtown”, with its rollicking boogie, comes across as exactly like what ZZ Top would sound like, had they hailed from Georgia instead of Texas, and his album-closing “Eyes Like Glue”, written for his son, is one of the quietest and most tender moments to ever grace a Truckers album.  Shonna Tucker further flexes her songwriting chops on this album as well, with two songs of her own – the sparse, atmospheric “You Got Another”, as well as the country pop anthem, “(It’s Gonna Be) I Told You So”.  While her lyrics are nowhere near as eloquent as those of her bandmates, her gritty, twangy voice lends itself to these simple pop melodies in such a way that it works, and works well.  It’s a shame that she gets so little airtime – perhaps a solo album wouldn’t be the worst idea, at some point.  However, at the end of the day, what matters is the strength of the album.  And this is a damn strong album from one of the best American bands around today.


Kaki King: Junior
Sometimes a great artist will find a niche and stick to it, slowly refining their art over the course of an entire career.  And sometimes that niche is blown completely apart, from time to time, with wild shifts in musical direction and intent.  Sometimes those shifts are tentative steps.  And sometimes those new directions are so natural that it is hard to think of them as radical and new.  Such is the case with Kaki King who, in 2003, began a career as a wildly talented (and innovative) instrumental fingerstyle guitarist, in the vein of Michael Hedges and Leo Kottke.  While her debut album, Everybody Loves You, was solo guitar, her second album began to introduce supporting musicians, to further flesh out her instrumental flights of fancy.  Sparse vocals made their way into her third album, 2006’s Until We Felt Red, and those inclinations were further explored in the seven vocal cuts that made up her 2008 release, Dreaming Of Revenge.  However, none of that could have prepared listeners for the radical changes that would come with the release of her 5th full-length album, Junior.  Only three instrumentals (one of which, the spiraling, prog rock twist of “My Nerves That Committed Suicide”, is one of her best-ever tracks) grace this 11-song disc, the most accessible and rock-oriented release of her career.  Kicking off with the dark, upbeat “The Betrayer”, the first, and most striking thing about this disc, is how natural a singer and writer Kaki King has become.  Very reminiscent of punk/folk darlings Tegan & Sara, as well as indie legends, Helium, there is a haunting, addictive quality to these songs that are somewhat hard to pinpoint, and just as difficult to ignore.  Bubbling under these tracks is Kaki’s trademark fingerstyle guitar, as well as some rather shredding soloing.  From the spacey, prog-pop of “Falling Day”, to the sparse, ethereal, almost Beatlesque “The Hoopers Of Hudspeth”, to the sheer punk rock of the aptly-titled “Death Head”, this is not only a brand new Kaki King, but one that is every bit as unique, and powerful, as the Kaki King we used to know.  This is not only a career-redefining album, but also by far the best album that 2010 has seen so far, and one that just may end up topping MANY end-of-year lists.

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