[Bookhead]

I don't know if there are any fans of this band, but their new album American Band is great. With the current political calamity taking place down here in the States, I've found Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley's thoughtful songwriting to be great mental/emotional medicine...and the music rocks. DBT are excellent musicians. (I sometimes think of them as the Southern Tragically Hip. LOL)

[direwolf74]

Huge fan here. Saw them live about a month ago in Vancouver, and they kicked ass as usual. Patterson Hood gave a nice shout-out to Gord and the Hip as well, which made it even sweeter. American Band is one of my favorite albums of the year.

[ashtrayrock]

once they banned imagine is a+

[hotmetal401]

Huge fan here. Saw them live about a month ago in Vancouver, and they kicked ass as usual. Patterson Hood gave a nice shout-out to Gord and the Hip as well, which made it even sweeter. American Band is one of my favorite albums of the year.

Did Lydia Loveless open that show in Vancouver? She was in Toronto on her own last month and just owned the place. Still at a spot in her career where just about every song is fair game and every night is different. That she reminds me of Kathleen Edwards circa 2002 (with a touch more grit) doesn't hurt either.

American Band is on my "best of" list this year too. I've never found the Truckers to be as enjoyable an outfit as, say, Old 97's, but this album is something else. To me, it might be their best work - certainly their most relevant and powerful.

[direwolf74]

Huge fan here. Saw them live about a month ago in Vancouver, and they kicked ass as usual. Patterson Hood gave a nice shout-out to Gord and the Hip as well, which made it even sweeter. American Band is one of my favorite albums of the year.

Did Lydia Loveless open that show in Vancouver? She was in Toronto on her own last month and just owned the place. Still at a spot in her career where just about every song is fair game and every night is different. That she reminds me of Kathleen Edwards circa 2002 (with a touch more grit) doesn't hurt either.

American Band is on my "best of" list this year too. I've never found the Truckers to be as enjoyable an outfit as, say, Old 97's, but this album is something else. To me, it might be their best work - certainly their most relevant and powerful.

Yea, she opened the Vancouver gig. What a talent. I picked up her new CD at the show, and then about a week later I started digging into the rest of her catalogue. She's a hell of a songwriter and she f'n rocks live. The last time I was that impressed with an opening act was Sam Roberts opening for the Hip way back in 2002.

The Old 97s are one of those bands that I've never gotten into, and I'm not sure why. I was a big Uncle Tupelo/Wilco/Son Volt/Jayhawks guy back in the day, so you'd think I would have discovered them around that time, but for some reason they fell through the cracks. When Wilco started into their avant garde/experimental phase, I really started to miss that old gritty alt-country rock sound, and the Truckers filled that void for me. As soon as I heard Southern Rock Opera, I was sold. I've been following them ever since.

One thing that's always bugged me about the alt-country movement is the fact that Canadian bands like the Skydiggers, Blue Rodeo, and Cowboy Junkies never get the credit they deserve for helping to pioneer that whole scene. Growing up in the early 90s, those bands were just as influential to me as American bands like Uncle Tupelo or The Jayhawks. Going back even further, the legendary Edmonton band Jr. Gone Wild were combining country and punk-rock as early as 1986.

[youtube]CXya45nAy7g[/youtube]


Anyway, getting back to the Old 97s, what albums would you recommend I start with? I'm always up for a new (old) discovery.

[hotmetal401]

One thing that's always bugged me about the alt-country movement is the fact that Canadian bands like the Skydiggers, Blue Rodeo, and Cowboy Junkies never get the credit they deserve for helping to pioneer that whole scene. Growing up in the early 90s, those bands were just as influential to me as American bands like Uncle Tupelo or The Jayhawks. Going back even further, the legendary Edmonton band Jr. Gone Wild were combining country and punk-rock as early as 1986.


Anyway, getting back to the Old 97s, what albums would you recommend I start with? I'm always up for a new (old) discovery.

Man, I hear you about those Canadian bands never really getting their due. Perhaps the greatest part of the Have Not Been The Same book was being able to discover some just before my time acts, like Jr Gone Wild, and especially Handsome Ned. There might not be a place for bands like Cowboy Junkies and Blue Rodeo if it weren't for Handsome Ned.

As for the 97's, the following recommendation should sound familiar to most Hip fans. Their first five full-length records are can't miss albums, with their 2000s middle period being symbolized by some really great songs, but no one album with near universal acclaim or love among critics or the fanbase, until their most recent album, Most Messed Up, which was heralded as their best in some 15 years.

That said, Too Far To Care is probably the best starting point. That and Fight Songs are the best examples of their "Willie Nelson meets The Kinks" style of country. Hitchhike To Rhome is one of my favourite debut albums of the 1990s, and the aforementioned Most Messed Up is a great middle-aged country rock record, with lots of cursing and tales drinking way too much.

[direwolf74]

As for the 97's, the following recommendation should sound familiar to most Hip fans. Their first five full-length records are can't miss albums, with their 2000s middle period being symbolized by some really great songs, but no one album with near universal acclaim or love among critics or the fanbase, until their most recent album, Most Messed Up, which was heralded as their best in some 15 years.

That said, Too Far To Care is probably the best starting point. That and Fight Songs are the best examples of their "Willie Nelson meets The Kinks" style of country. Hitchhike To Rhome is one of my favourite debut albums of the 1990s, and the aforementioned Most Messed Up is a great middle-aged country rock record, with lots of cursing and tales drinking way too much.

Awesome, thanks. I'll make sure to check those out.

:music

[direwolf74]

once they banned imagine is a+

Speaking of which, here's a brilliant version they did recently on KEXP. This has slowly become my favorite song on the album.

The video embed doesn't seem to be working for some reason, so here's the full link.

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[potsie]

I don't know if there are any fans of this band, but their new album American Band is great. With the current political calamity taking place down here in the States, I've found Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley's thoughtful songwriting to be great mental/emotional medicine...and the music rocks. DBT are excellent musicians. (I sometimes think of them as the Southern Tragically Hip. LOL)

Big fan here as well. When I first heard the lead single "What it Means" back in August I felt it was too "on the head" as far as political songs go and it didn't resonate with me. When I bought the album a couple months later and started listening front-to-back it all made much more sense to me. There are at least 4-5 songs on the album that address the problem of gun violence, maybe none as poignantly as the "The Guns of Umpqua".

American Band is certainly in my top five for the year, and probably my top three. I think there are a couple parallels with the Hip (and I like your description of them as a Southern Hip). In 2016 both bands made what I believe to be their best records in 12 years (since 2004's IBE for the Hip and since 2004's The Dirty South for DBT). In addition, Gord and Patterson Hood are contemporaries, born within a few weeks of each other in 1964.

[direwolf74]

Fantastic interview with Hood and Cooley by the Hold Steady's Craig Finn. It's pretty long, but well worth watching if you're a fan. These guys are such brilliant songwriters, and it's very cool getting a peek behind their writing process and how these songs came to be.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkN47uD0yWc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkN47uD0yWc</a><!-- m --> (part 1)
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAsnpNyUd1I&t=16s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAsnpNyUd1I&t=16s</a><!-- m --> (part 2)
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7A2Ab1cvaQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7A2Ab1cvaQ</a><!-- m --> (part 3)

[direwolf74]

Jason Isbell reunited with the Truckers last night in Nashville for a performance of "Heathens". Pretty cool.

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[ashtrayrock]

Jason Isbell reunited with the Truckers last night in Nashville for a performance of "Heathens". Pretty cool.

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nice find. thanks

the new dbt tour is their best in a long long time for me. way overdue. i was giving up hope and then they dropped this new cd. WOW

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[direwolf74]

The Truckers released an excellent new single today, and it's a politically outspoken barn burner. Patterson is pissed off. I anticipate this song will likely alienate some of their more conservative Southern-based fans. Not that American Band hasn't done that already though, lol.

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Also, here's a great interview with Patterson from Stereogum:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.stereogum.com/1970368/qa-patterson-hood-on-drive-by-truckers-angry-political-anthem-the-perilous-night/franchises/interview/">https://www.stereogum.com/1970368/qa-pa ... interview/</a><!-- m -->