Drive-By Truckers

I've been exploring new music lately and come across a band of note. For those like me who mistakenly thought that modern rock music is a wasteland of indie noise-makers and nu-metal chowderheads, there is hope. The Drive-By Truckers are a hardrocking country outfit with as much significance as beer and pizza. Meaning that while it ain't gonna change your life, you love the hell out of it.

Sounding like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers filtered through the alternative and punk rock of the last couple decades, they are everything you could want from a rock outfit. Three guitar playing vocalists, all of whom with chops to spare, and a kickass rhythm section offering up driving anthemic rockers.

I recommend one of their most recent records, The Dirty South, which is half hard-rock and half accoustic balladry, as a prime example of their sound. Their rock-geek credentials are confirmed by their epic Southern Rock Opera, a two disc album telling the story of Skynyrd in the only form appropriate.

I went to Hot Poop (a local record store) today to pick up another of their albums and the owner slipped me a bonus LP of material. The contained cover of Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone is played with the passion of musicians who understand that rock & roll has deep roots, but that the tree it's yielded has a lot of room left to grow.