decoration day

The Drive-By Truckers got personal with the outlaw country rock of this monumental tribute to the small scale stories of the South.  After the critical acclaim of their double-album 'Southern Rock Opera' the group continued their triple guitar onslaught with hair raising results.  'Decoration Day' was recorded live in the studio at Chase Park Transduction Studios in Athens, Georgia with Mike Cooley on guitar and vocals; Earl Hicks on bass; Patterson Hood on guitar and vocals; Jason Isbell on guitar and vocals; and Brad Morgan on drums; with David Barbe on production, engineering, mixing, guitar, keyboards, Wurlitzer, and upright piano; Scott Danborn on fiddle; Clay Leverett on harmony; John Neff on pedal steel; Spooner Oldham on Wurlitzer; and Shonna Tucker on upright bass.  

Hood says:    "'Decoration Day' more or less became an album about choices, good and bad, right and wrong, and the consequences of those choices.  The songs come from some dark times. The band had spent several years on the road, recording four albums between tours, and often leaving loved ones back home, to deal with all kinds of financial hardships alone. The same period also saw the passing of several loved ones (some by natural causes, and some not). Eventually the turmoil began to take its toll on the band itself.  Despite the dark nature of most of the songs, the album was a blast to record. New guitarist Jason Isbell joined the band about a year earlier and contributes two amazing songs, including the title cut. Everyone involved seems to have come out the other end of all the previous turmoil. David Barbe rolled the tape, capturing the band in its finest form ever. Seven of the songs were first takes (with about five second takes), yet for the first time, the band had the luxury of spending a little more time on the details."









http://www.drivebytruckers.com/







"The Deeper In" 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umCXmWcKJK8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvId33nqBG0




"Sink Hole"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q-Ma6UlrtA






"Marry Me"
“'Marry Me' is one that I always, always play. It’s a lot of fun to play. It was inspired -- I don’t know if this was true, but I don’t care -- but there was this friend of mine, he had a girlfriend named Mary, but he broke up with her and got another girlfriend. One night he and his new girlfriend are getting busy, and he started saying the wrong name. She’s like, 'What did you say?' and he’s 'Mary…Marry…me.'  I wanted to write something about him, and that story summed him up perfectly. That was how quick he was. He was killed in a car wreck right in the year that we started this band. He was kind of supposed to be part of it, and that song was who he was, every line in it. That’s one of my favorites that I’ve ever written; it’s a rock 'n' roll song and it had to be that. I’m always proud if I can get a good rock 'n' roll song that’s got some substance to it. I’m happier. If every one of them could be that, they would be."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlcOs3fCN3M




"My Sweet Annette"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-PF1Egqz3g



"Outfit" 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyJ9JfWbKLE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kObBZVj_Zjc



"Heathens"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cY8x_bafIA






"(Something's Got to) Give Pretty Soon" 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-Qia8Mm5dU






"Careless"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_PpP0qWjw0







"Decoration Day" 
"This was the first song I wrote after joining the band, and it uses a fictional protagonist to tell a story that's rumored to be true. If a fight goes on long enough, it can be impossible to remember who started it. I really love the coda. Barbe and the boys turned it into a tornado."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDpCkx6hSCI



"Loaded Gun in the Closet" 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HcMqld-RLI



'Decoration Day' 
full album:



1. "The Deeper In" Hood 3:15
2. "Sink Hole" Hood 3:27
3. "Hell No, I Ain't Happy" Hood 4:38
4. "Marry Me" Cooley 5:42
5. "My Sweet Annette" Hood 3:51
6. "Outfit" Isbell 4:06
7. "Heathens" Hood 4:47
8. "Sounds Better in the Song" Cooley 4:08
9. "(Something's Got to) Give Pretty Soon" Hood 3:38
10. "Your Daddy Hates Me" Hood 6:40
11. "Careless" Hood 2:07
12. "When the Pin Hits the Shell" Cooley 4:10
13. "Do It Yourself" Hood 3:20
14. "Decoration Day" Isbell 5:47
15. "Loaded Gun in the Closet" Cooley 5:13