Happy 10th Anniversary to Drive-By Truckers American Band album.
The most politically focused, timely, and solemn album of the band's career turns ten today.
Back in the fall of 2016 things seemed to be going OK, Hillary Clinton had a double digit lead in the polls, the country was far from perfect, but doing alright., at least I personally thought. All that seemed to change on election night about a month after this release and it is safe to say DBT saw that coming.
These songs describe a pissed off America, reeling from gun violence, hypocrisy, censorship, political malaise and more. It was a protest album that spoke to the dark times ahead. The band knew that a part of their audience wouldn't be onboard and they didn't care, songwriters Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood needed to speak their minds and certainly had a clearer view of the country than I did.
The album cover also speaks volumes. For a band who always went with their friend Wes Freed for cartoon/hand drawn covers, this time they instead hired photographer Danny Clinch for a flag at half mast on a pole that looks like a cross. The album cover speaks directly to the music inside and the band was making a statement before the music ever rolled.
Once it did however, it packed a punch. The NRA history lesson "Ramon Casiano" pumps, "Darkened Flags on the Cusp of Dawn" is powerful history lesson, "Guns of Umpqua" tackles mass shootings, "What It Means" deals with police violence on minorities, "Once They Banned Imagine" speaks to the absurdity of censorship, and "Ever South" could be the band's theme song.
It is an intellectually moving album album, one that topped our rankings in 2016, yet is one RtBE does not like to go back to often. The songs are great, the topics still vital, yet listening always recalls those dark November days of 2016 when this country made a major mistake that is still festering.
In closing of RtBE's review of the album, I stated:
Hopefully this record will sound dated in 15 years when police violence against minorities, mass shootings, and depression are all eradicated but I got a feeling it will (sadly) be just as powerful (probably heavier) and still rank as one of the bands best efforts.
Maybe the next 5 years will surprise me, but I doubt it. On the tenth anniversary of the album's release, play it loud, here are some songs to get you started:
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