The Drive-By Truckers weighed recklessness, responsibility, regret, and rejuvenation in the wake of personnel changes and came up with this double-album opus of ragged Americana. The departure of guitarist and songwriter Jason Isbell resulted from infighting between him and the other songwriters Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley as well as from the dissolution of his marriage with bassist Shonna Tucker; and yet, the band came together with even more songs with Tucker contributing her own compositions for the first time: "I’ve always written. This is just the first time approached the guys with the songs and felt like they were Drive-by Trucker material. I’ve always written, but for the last five years I’ve kind of been in the back, in the shadows, because I’ve been focusing on being the bass player. It seemed like time for me to come out and introduce myself as a writer."
Hood says that the band road-tested many of the new songs on their 'Dirt Underneath' tour: "It was the quantity of new songs, I guess. There were so many of them. We'd always catch flak from labels or whatever, for playing songs off the next record six months before it came out. This time, we decided that was exactly what we were doing. We pretty much advertised it. Don't tell us what we can or can't do, you know? You're not paying my children's bills...I think we worked up maybe twelve out of the nineteen songs. By the end of the tour, probably eight or nine songs of the show each night were brand new songs. When we went into the studio, everything was road-tested and worked out. I think it's what enabled us to make the record so fast-- we made the lion's share of this record in ten days. We do the vocals separately, and definitely took a bit of time with those. And by that I don't mean all summer, but, like, another week...We didn't set out to make a long record. The goal was to record a bunch of songs and see what we had after two weeks, then figure out if we had what we needed to make a record. We had a very open-ended goal this time, but once we started doing it it took on a life of its own. It was very organic. When we finished a song, we knew which song to do next. It just flowed, like a slow-motion version of one of our shows. No set list. We pick the first song as we're walking up on stage, and where it goes from there, who knows? We were listening back, and the original plan was to pick the best ten, fourteen of these, and that will be our record. But it just stuck together."
Cooley came up with more songs than usual: "There are things that happen along the way of the recording process that I’m a little fuzzy on from time to time. [Hood] remembering all that is really impressive. If it’s one of my songs, I wrote the words. But did I play acoustic or electric guitar? Hell, I don’t know...Well, I would love to be able to write a lot more than I do, but I’ve never worked that way. We both bring in pretty much everything we have, or everything we think is worth working with. If I have two songs that I feel good enough about, I’ll put two on the record. If it’s six or seven, then it’s six or seven...If I bring it in and we don’t put it on the album, then usually I was the one going, 'No no no, let me take this back and think about it a little longer'.”
'Brighter Than Creation's Dark' was produced, engineered, and mixed by David Barbe at Chase Park Transduction Studios in Athens, Georgia "on glorious 2 inch analog tape". The sessions featured Mike Cooley, Patterson Hood, and John Neff on guitar and vocals; Brad Morgan on drums; and Shonna Tucker on bass and vocals; with the addition of Spooner Oldham on keys and vocals. The album was dedicated to Oldham. 'Brighter Than Creation's Dark' made it to number thirty-seven on the US album chart.
http://www.drivebytruckers.com/
"Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife" (Hood) was inspired by the murder of House of Freaks singer Bryan Harvey and his family. Hood says: "'Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife' was written as a result of trying to make some kind of peace with an unspeakable tragedy that affected so many people I know and love. I was hoping to help with the healing and closure by trying to provide a beautiful song that dwells on the positives of love and family. I knew it was the first song on the album the moment I wrote it."
When he reached the gates of heaven
He didn't understand
He knew that folks were coming over
Or was it all a dream?
Was it all a crazy dream?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rs6rgjWZXyQ
"The Righteous Path" (Hood)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDuuGtWTL9k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CyNabyA4lA
"I'm Sorry Huston" (Tucker)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k96zrh5tuY8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPLrrM2fz8c
"Perfect Timing" (Cooley)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6q8tggGAgQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF5wnlRWn6o
"Daddy Needs a Drink" (Hood)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_GdEjMv1Ms
"Self Destructive Zones" (Cooley)
Cooley says: "It is coming from pop culture and music in particular, but that's because that's what section my seats are in. That's my view of the show. But it turned out to be more of an overall social commentary with the state of pop culture as the backdrop. Maybe there's no difference between the two anymore. Maybe that's what I was trying to say."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6R0Udhja44
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nlL-7PHCXg
"Home Field Advantage" (Tucker)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zvyGKFCG1o
"The Man I Shot" (Hood)
was inspired by a meeting of some Iraq War veterans after a show with the Black Crowes. Hood recalls: "We invited them on our bus. We were touring with the Black Crowes, and they sent word. "Hey, we're Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, Green Berets, and our buddy's about to go back over. We really would love to have him get to meet the band before he goes back over. Is there any way to hook us up?" We invited him back. I really wanted to hear their point of view, their side of the story. It's a different point of view than what you get from the media, or a politician. It's coming from someone that you've got to respect, much more than I'm going to respect some politician, whether I agree with him or not. These guys are actually there. Over the course of the evening they said some things that I vehemently disagree with, but I respect where they come from, their point of view, their right to have it, and the fact that they back it up with action. They're not just sitting in some chamber or the Oval Office, making decisions that they don't even suffer consequences for, other than their vote-getting abilities."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyacZQ5HTgk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZbRhmUmv2U
"Purgatory Line" (Tucker)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlIO3-X3muU
"Checkout Time in Vegas" (Cooley) was inspired by the true-life story of Scott Baxendale and gives the album its title.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdmyXZuHUW0
"Goode's Field Road" (Hood) took over seven years to write and was recorded in one take.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaxC18ep9Us
"A Ghost to Most" (Cooley)
Cooley says: "The Hurricane Katrina aftermath is where all that came from...That was the time period. I had a lot of those lyrics for probably a year-and-a-half before they ever turned into one solid thing. Some of [that song] I had going through my head for a long time. I just kept coming back to it. But the hurricane was the source of a lot of it. I watched that play out in Europe, which was a little different...We left New Orleans. The day of, or maybe right before it hit, we flew to Spain. It had hit the coast by the time we landed. I didn't see it on Fox News...I wrote that on Halloween. No shit. That might've been what came up first, actually. It was a rare Halloween that I was home. We were getting the kids ready to trick-or-treat, so that's what was in my head. Sometimes it really is that fuckin' simple...It's metaphorical as hell, but it popped into my head on Halloween!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEW5p3vGo10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxLXCSqOvUo
"Monument Valley" (Hood)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65QF_fcLbKQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gwf9IGmsi7o
playlist
"Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife" (Hood) - 3:05
"3 Dimes Down" (Cooley) - 3:19
"The Righteous Path" (Hood) - 4:13
"I'm Sorry Huston" (Tucker) - 3:11
"Perfect Timing" (Cooley) - 2:58
"Daddy Needs a Drink" (Hood) - 3:48
"Self Destructive Zones" (Cooley) - 4:12
"Bob" (Cooley) - 2:15
"Home Field Advantage" (Tucker) - 5:01
"The Opening Act" (Hood) - 6:48
"Lisa's Birthday" (Cooley) - 3:19
"That Man I Shot" (Hood) - 6:03
"The Purgatory Line" (Tucker) - 3:48
"The Home Front" (Hood) - 3:18
"Checkout Time in Vegas" (Cooley) - 2:41
"You and Your Crystal Meth" (Hood) - 2:19
"Goode's Field Road" (Hood) - 5:28
"A Ghost to Most" (Cooley) - 4:41
"The Monument Valley" (Hood) - 4:33
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