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Drive-By Truckers – ‘Welcome 2 Club XIII’ Review

You have to give the Drive-By Truckers credit for this much: they’re not afraid to dive right in, to get dark, and get heavy. That’s exactly what they do on the first track on their new album ‘Welcome 2 Club XIII’, ‘Drive’. Patterson’s sing-speaking narrates an apocalyptic story of rock ‘n’ roll madness, as the band looks back upon its formative years. At 7 minutes long, ‘Drive’ is an epic, and it’s hard to say here what exactly is truth, and what exactly is fiction. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter, because, sometimes, the things you make up express the most truth. I don’t know if each and every event described in ‘Drive’ happened to Patterson Hood and his bandmates, and I don’t care, because I believe it happened to the band in this song.

The Truckers have a steady format: they alternate songs written by Patterson and Mike Cooley. Some fans of the band have a marked preference for one or the other; Hood is more prolific, and has also released several excellent solo albums. On ‘Club XIII’ the quality of the songs seems about even about to me. While each has a distinctive authorial voice, the nature of the album — more personal stories and stories reflecting on their journey as rock musicians, and the least amount of politically explicit material on any album on quite some time, maybe ever — brings the two closer to each other. 

While Cooley has some strong cuts here, Hood’s song dominate the album. He wrote a pair about the difficulties of love in the traveling musician’s life (‘Shake and Pine’ and ‘We’ll Never Wake You Up In The Morning’), and the two songs that tie together this album are his, too. The title cut describes a night at a gig: the cast of characters, the atmosphere, the stresses and interactions; you feel like you were there, those several decades ago, and you appreciate — or loathe — the scene for what it was. In ‘Wilder Days’ Hood looks back with the wisdom of an older man on all the adventures he had in his youth, warts and all. It’s a theme that Hood spends the album building up, and Cooley lends a helping hand with his ‘Every Single Storied Flameout’.

The Truckers are known their energetic live shows, and they made the decision to record this album live, capturing the band’s energy at is best. The album is produced just enough — the horns on ‘Every Single Storied Flameout’ add a welcome touch beyond what you’d get in their live show — without trying to make them too slick. This is a band that benefits from a certain amount of roughness and raw energy; they’ve always declared their allegiance to punk music, and that spirit is clear in the way play. This isn’t to say they’re at all sloppy, because they’re not.

Some excellent guest appearances add additional spice to an already strong album. Margo Price, Mike Mills (R.E.M.), and Mississippi singer-songwriter Schaefer Liana add fantastic vocal performances to the album. 

For more than two and half decades, the Drive-By Truckers have consistently made great albums, and ‘Welcome 2 Club XIII’ is another banger.

Track list: 1.The Driver 2. Maria’s Awful Disclosure 3. Shake and Pine 4. We Will Never You Up in the Morning 5. Welcome 2 Club XIII 6. Forged in Heaven and Hell 7. Every Single Stories Flame Out 8. Billy Ringo in the Dark 9. Wilder Days Record Label: ATO Records Release date: Friday June 3rd Buy ‘Welcome 2 Club XIII’ now

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