When the Drive-by Truckers recorded “The Big To-Do,” they found they had a problem. The band had more than 40 songs from which to choose and all were too good to leave on the metaphoric chopping block, said Chief Trucker Patterson Hood. The solution? Two albums.
| On Stage |
| Drive-by Truckers When: 8 p.m. doors, Friday and Saturday |
| Where: 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW |
| Details: Sold out at press time; tickets may be available from online resellers; 800-955-5566 |
“Everyone was really creative and came in with great material,” Hood said, reflecting on the material available for the 2010 album. “We wanted to record a more direct rock record first and then make the other record totally different.”
Enter the band’s Tuesday release “Go-Go Boots,” which Hood called a “country soul murder ballad.” To define that, think of the band taking a musical step back from its Lynyrd Skynyrd-style Southern rock and offering their take on the sound born in Muscle Shoals, Ala.. Yet the music is also distinctly Drive-By Truckers’, harkening back to the band’s 2008 release “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark” — a bit more reflective, a bit more somber than the let-the-good-times-roll rockers for which the band is arguably best known.
Calling it the band’s Valentine’s Day present to the fans, Hood said the music is wrapped around the band’s dominant musical influences — country and soul — so it really gives fans a glimpse of the musical heritage of many of the band’s songs.
“This is the proper follow up to ‘Brighter Than Creation’s Dark,’ ” Hood said, “and that had some of the most country- or R&B-influenced moments we’ve recorded. This record goes a lot further into Bobby Womack and Eddie Hinton territory. We all have been obsessed fans of Eddie’s for years. Our fans always get an earful of Eddie playing on the P.A. [before our shows] … and it has been that way for six or seven years.”
In keeping with the way in which the albums evolved, the Truckers’ will present “Go-Go Boots” and “The Big To-Do” as something of a package during their concerts. Those who attend should expect to hear plenty of selections from both albums plus fan favorites from albums past. But don’t count on any particular set list.
“The handful of times we had to work with a set list, it’s always been a lesser show,” Hood said. “Our shows are based on what is happening right in front of us while we play. That inspires the twists and turns. If there’s a set list we have to follow, it doesn’t translate into the show we want it to be.”
