Is it just me, or do Drive-By Truckers really suck

[tlon]

yeah, they'd really benefit from having their albums cut down a bit

[allnitewatchman]

If you have to ask whether you suck or not then it's probably a safe bet that you do. Trying to blame your own inadequacies on the Drive-By Truckers isn't really a good idea. Thousands upon thousands of people really dig this band. They were around long before you started to diss them and they'll probably be around for a few more years as well. You should think about getting your own life straightened out before you go around attacking the Drive-By Truckers.

[techsus]

Looking for dbt shirts and found this....my 2 cents.
I'm From Texas live in Missouri, I've been traveling the country and working since I was 17, Turning 33 tomorrow. It pains me to turn on the fm radio in most places to hear anything close to relevant about my current life or up-bringing. Classic country stations do an ok job and red dirt stations in tx do well too. The first time I heard dbt I bought an album and many more after that. There are some slow spots as it's been pointed out, I can't imagine them putting a song on their album they didn't love, I may not dig it but maybe that's some one else's bag? They rock, tell the truth and have an enormous band to keep so tight. Can't hardly find double electric leads anymore. Some people don't understand, never will. If all them liked it I probably wouldn't be into them anyways...full of fluff for the masses. They are a far cry from "southerners" like Jason Aldean or Luke Bryan....if y'all don't know it yet I'm gonna drop a few names for y'all to try. New school and old school, country blues
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Jerry Jeff walker
Sturgill Simpson
Cody jinks

[doctoracula]

Patterson Hood sang a track on the most recent Peter Buck LP. That's pretty cool.

[stephano]

Wow. Way to start up a lively thread. All props to you for that Man. There's a lot of really good points been made in here already. I'm going to speak for myself and myself only, but I find DBT to be an intriguing proposition which often ends in disappointment.

I totally agree that the band suffer from a quality/quantity imbalance. I have four Drive-By Truckers albums and (maybe they're the wrong four) I don't think I'll be investing in any more. That said each of those albums has some absolute golden moments on them.

I like Southern Rock as much as it is possible for a London born, Essex raised, home counties dwelling chap can like southern rock. I too investigated DBT because of the Hold Steady love in between the two bands.

The first album I bought was overlong and patchy but it had three or four songs on it I thought were genius. So I figured they were at 'a' stage in their output where albums could feature a little flab but there would be some gems in the back catalog. I bought a couple more albums on the strength of those tracks. The same experience again but now I was seeing the over laps. The Daddy Songs, The Cheating Songs, The Drunk Songs. Still not a huge problem for me as many bands have a formula and refine and repeat it (AC/DC, Ramones, even THS). The last record of theirs I shelled out for was The Big To-Do. It has a sublime torch song on it (You Got Another) a cautionary tale of excess (The Fourth Night Of My Drinking)and a couple of killer rockers (Birthday Boy and This Fucking Job).

So they're for my money a good band but not a great one. A best of package could be a terrific set. They sure do play at the peak of their capabilities. They push themselves to play beyond their natural talent and I like that. The odd strained vocal or flat bridge is fine if you can see the band are trying to be varied and exciting. It's clear they're the real deal but strange how they are protected by a bubble of holy rock fire from criticism most of the time. Apropos to nothing I also hate the hand drawn water colour record sleeves. Not a judgement on the music but I had to get that off my chest.

The more universal lyric of Righteous Path spoke directly to me (and anyone I think who's in the muck and bullets of adult life). I'm right up for the full tourist experience of Carl Perkins Cadillac. Sink Hole's sinister boogie pushes a lot of the right buttons and When The Pin hits The Shell is like watching a film with subtitles to my ears of Albion (way to mix a metaphor right?). There's a lot to like here but there are limitations to the band that can prove to eject me as a listener from the experience and send me back to bands the 'Say something to me about my life'

[kickingitwithkevin]

Jul 25, 2010 2:08:50 GMT -5 kickingitwithkevin said:

I'm with you Thomas. I've bought a couple of their albums off the back of the 'love THS therefore will love DBT' equation, and really felt like I was missing something! I've given them my best shot, but it's really not happening.

I totally reversed my position after English Oceans..

[dabook]

I am a big fan of Hood's storytelling capabilities. He is a great writer. In concert the highs are very high, but the lows are downright dragging. I love Southern Rock Opera...its a perfect album to me. But there are times when they seem to be caught in the muck and mire of a George Jones nightmare. I do not dislike them, but I could never see myself as a devout fan. I have about six or seven of their albums and have seen them live about 5 times. They are a fun band to watch and listen to but they do not elicit the same emotions I have for say Lou Reed, or The Grateful Dead or ......The Hold Steady.

[junobeach]

It took me seeing them last spring to really go down the DBT rabbit hole. Really into it.

However I saw them twice this year and was very underwhelmed with their set lists, especially as a fan of the 2 Isbell albums + Southern Rock.

I found the show seriously lacking in the rock. And got more of the DBT show I was expecting when I saw Isbell.

[WhiskeyDaisy]

They are one of those bands that have songs that I love or songs that I don't need to hear again. But the ones I love, I really really love.

XO
WD

[lukeindetroit]

Definitely just you. Truckers rock.

I'm from rural Michigan, not the south, but a town of 350 people an hour away from anything bigger, and I find the lyrics very relatable. In fact, the truckers are some of the only public figures, IMO, to talk about the issues affecting my family and friends (rural poverty, addiction, clashes with the law, etc.) Politicians and media figures usually don't address these issues at all, regardless of their leanings, but that doesn't mean they're not there.

[muzzleofbees]

Aug 25, 2014 3:00:48 GMT -5 stephano said:

I'm going to speak for myself and myself only, but I find DBT to be an intriguing proposition which often ends in disappointment.

Well put. They are a band I should love, but I don't. I like them - a lot. And at their top, they're one of the best bands out there. But too often I think they fail to live up to their own promises.

I think Brighter Than Creation's Dark is my favourite. With 70+ minutes of music, not everything is great, but I actually think it's their most even and well composed album. And I really dig the Shonna tunes.

[njmark77]

Well I guess my first post might as well be about a band I love above all others. I got into THS during the Rock and Roll Means Well tour. First THS album I bought was Stay Positive based on nothing but the love DBT had for them. It took a long time to warm up to SP but I'm glad I did. I'm not much for pitting one band against another but to say DBT sucks just smacks of laziness.

[thebambino]

One of the best bands going. To each their own I guess. You won't get cheated at a live show. They aren't "catchy" upon first listen and not every song is a gem but if you can listen to their records and not get something out of them, we can just agree to disagree. They are basically a southern version of THS, but maybe you're from a big city in the North? Idk

[nosferatu]

I've seen them live twice and have to say there seems to be a massive element of whiskey-soaked pastiche going on, if you can cut through that fug then they're an awesome proposition. It was nowhere near as transformative a live show as I was expecting - everything seemed undercooked and the interminable tunes in the same tempo and in the same key for 3 hours were a bit annoying, it was as if longevity of performance had replaced the urgency if you see what I mean? I couldn't do 3 hours a night 250 times a year though, so I'll give them that one!

Totally agree with those on the quality/quantity side of things... they are almost too prolific. I actually got into DBT before THS, because Gravity's Gone was doing the rounds on Bob Harris's BBC Radio 2 show and I really dug the alt-country vibe in the same way as Toastie mentioned Whiskeytown before. A Southern Rock Opera is absolutely essential listening for anybody... my dad got into a lot of Southern Rock in the 1970s when The Old Grey Whistle Test did a few specials on it - I have every Skynyrd album on vinyl (as well as a bunch of others, I'm lookin' at you TABB, Molly Hatchet and .38 Special) and that particular DBT album really opened up the background to that world to me in a way the 70s stuff didn't. Jason Isbell leant the band a leanness of writing that they have tried to match since he left without the same success - except on The Big To-Do, for my money. I went to see Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit in 2014 in Manchester UK and it was the best show of the year, in a year where I saw THS twice, DBT, Brand New, Hozier and The New Pornographers amongst others.

I actually think they're miles better on record than they are live, I find their records immersive in the same way as Richmond Fontaine. The Dirty South, BTCD, SRO, The Big To-Do and A Blessing and A Curse are all fantastic. Struggle with the others and Shonna's tunes... but that's still four albums and a double album - what other band has that strike rate?

[stephano]

Nos... You speak a lot of sense. You, like me, love Southern Rock from a UK mind set. I love Skynrd and Foghat and Molly Hatchet (real homely stuff reminds me of my folks) and I have made my feelings about DBT pretty clear in this thread already. But are we just being spoiled brats when an band has a 25-30% genius rating? I can't find many songs better than The Righteous Path or The Fourth Night Of My Drinking when on shuffle so DBT are a killer band by comparison.

The biggest win for Shonna is You Got Another. That fucking song man. Damn!

[heypoke]

They really do suck. Horrible lyrics written by ? Ten year old..should never be listed in a top twenty five of the best southern rock absolutely terrible and cliche.

[heypoke]

Jul 24, 2010 21:20:26 GMT -5 thomasj368 said:

I know, I know. tons of THS fans also love the Drive-By Truckers. I've always been merely lukewarm about them, until a friend dragged me to see them in DC last night. Now, I simply think they blow really hard.

They give a bad name to rock storytelling; all of their songs are so horribly cliche southern schtick. ("Daddy played poker in the woods they say, back in his younger days" -- And that's one of their more bearable songs.)

If there was a word cloud of their lyrics, "daddy," "mama," "ain't," "whiskey" and any permutation of double negatives would be by far the most prominent.

I am totally prepared to get flamed, just needed to vent and see if their is anyone who else really likes THS but hates DBT.

[heypoke]

You are correct...they really suck. Never heard of them before until I saw a post rating three of their albums in top 25 of southern rock albums..even higher than allman brothers and skynyrds second helping...so I researched and listened to five or six songs...that's when I realised that either one of the guys in the band or his mom wrote the top twenty five post....these guys need to remain drunk in their daddy's garage or stoned in their mamas basement they are horrible...lyrics written by a 12 year old?? Not to mock out 12 year olds but wtf

[tbob]

Any band that once contained Jason Isbell don’t write lyrics that remind me of a 12-year old. Just saying. Listen to ‘Outfit’ and tell me I’m wrong.

[tbob]

And for further listening check out Isbell’s “Southeastern” album for some of the finest lyrics this century. That’s slightly off-topic being a solo album after he left the band though.

[nosferatu]

Absolutely not having it, sorry folks. DBT are brilliant. Tried to engage with legitimate criticisms about five years ago in this thread by sitting on the fence but they’re a FANTASTIC band. If you get it, you get it. If you don’t, just move on and don’t flame.

[saintjoe]

This is a funny thread to find over 10 years after it was started. DBT's a different band today than they were in 2010, with different personnel, a much larger body of work, and a different sound. They're writing about different things; I'd say they are now less a Southern rock band and more just a rock band. So the discussion of DBT today I think would be totally different than it has been for most of this thread.

Since this thread was started, Shonna's left, Jason's on his own, Patterson moved to Portland. Trump came, and went. The lineup has been stable for the last few years, probably the longest period with the same lineup since they started up.

To answer the question posed in the opening post, yes it's just you.

I got into DBT around 2014, and they are now one of my top 5 bands.

Because of when I first got into them, I know them more for American Band than for SRO or The Dirty South or Decoration Day. I love American Band, that's what sucked me into them. Ramon Casiano might be my favorite DBT song (although Shut Up and Get on the Plane would be a close second). I love both albums they put out last year. I've slowly gotten into their older stuff, but it wasn't their older stuff that made me a fan.

They can be a little preachy at times, and their politics will either rub you the wrong way or the right way. I'd say their albums tend to be about 75% great and about 25% just OK. But they've written some of the most powerful, insightful and fun rock songs that I've heard over the past 20 years.

Anyway, it was about a year ago almost to the day that my wife and I saw DBT in NYC. The night before, we had seen Los Lobos, another of my top 5 bands. At our age, we don't go out to shows on consecutive nights, but we made it (had seats for Los Lobos, which helped) and both shows were great. Little did we know at the time that they were the last shows we'd see until who knows when.