Patterson Hood is the front man for Drive-By Truckers, the southern fried rock band out of Athens, GA that draws numerous comparisons to the South’s other iconic sons, Lynyrd Skynyrd.  Hood and his song writing partner, Mike Cooley, first garnered national acclaim in 2002 for their two disc opus, “Southern Rock Opera,” a Mason-Dixon mythological take on Ronnie Van Zant and Skynyrd.  But what sets Drive-By Truckers apart from their Alabama predecessors is Hood’s blunt, narrative lyrics offered through his own graveled, cigarette-charred vocals.   Just prior to opening up for the Black Crowes, at Ford Amphitheater on 7/7, he took a break from the group’s sound check to discuss the writing process, being born into a musical family, and red state vs. blue state politics with Reax head writer, Michael Rabinowitz.


REAX: “Southern Rock Opera” was DBT’s big breakthrough.  How do you and Mike Cooley handle the writing duties together of such an epic concept album?”

PH: “Southern Rock Opera” was this big, long narrative, and we had it down before we had the songs.  It’s something we would discuss during long trips in the van.  We’d get tired of whatever we were listening to in the tape deck, and we’d turn off the stereo and discuss this crazy idea of a record we wanted to make.  We came up with the storyline and then everybody kind of assigned themselves certain specific parts of it that they wanted to write.  Like Cooley wanted, from day one, to write a song that became “Shut Up and Get on the Plane,” the story about Cassie Gaines not wanting to get on the plane on the morning of the crash (Lynyrd Skynyrd’s plane) and Ronnie (Van Zant) talking her into it.

REAX:  One song I really admire off your new album is “Aftermath USA” about the destruction of a relationship via crystal meth.  Do you use this type of extreme example to present a metaphor for common, smaller disasters in relationships?

PH:  That one could also go in the other direction and be a metaphor for our current political mess in a lot of ways.  At least to me, I don’t know if I was consciously thinking that when I wrote it, but after the fact, it certainly occurred to me that it’s a whole red state crank epidemic thing.  It’s sad and tragic, and it’s done a lot of devastation in part of the country where I grew up.  They are really having a serious problem with crank and baking crystal meth.  It’s a sad irony to me, because the parts of the country that are the most devastated by that tend to be the red states.  It’s been the polar opposite of the crack epidemic and what that did to the inner cities of America.  This is the rural, pick up truck, and Bush-backer version.  I am sure that those themes entered into my subconscious in the writing of that song.  

REAX:  And this seems to be the duality of Drive-By Truckers, in that you are a Southern, red state rock band that is loved across the board, blue states included.

PH:  Oh, for sure.  Initially, much more so.  Middle America and the South were both later regions for us to be accepted.  Even “Southern Rock Opera” was first written about, and treated, as something important in the “big city” press—New York and Chicago and D.C and the West Coast.  They were the first places to really jump on that record and embrace it… well, except for Austin and Athens.  They’re both like blue dots in the red expanse.  (laughs)

REAX:  Does the fact that you attract both ends of the political spectrum show that this red state/blue state gap is bullshit?

PH:  Yeah, I hope it’s something that we as a people and country can get past.  It’s not doing us any good, and I can come down hard on both sides of some of that.  I am grateful that our band is well liked by people on both ends of that spectrum, and I’m grateful that even though it’s well known where we fall on that spectrum, it doesn’t have to be a big, decisive thing.  One of the best reviews our band got was from The National Review.  When it first happened, I thought, “What the hell?”  But when I read it, it really was one of the best, one of the most thoughtful reviews written of “Southern Rock Opera.”  That’s because he got it.

Drive-By Truckers’ newest release, “A Blessing And A Curse,” is currently available on New West Records.