2005 ACL Fest Home > Reports from the ACL Festival > Archives > 2005 > September > 24 > Entry
Reverently irreverent Drive-By Truckers
Drive-By Truckers more or less proudly wear a Southern rock mantle borrowed from their greatest inspiration, Lynyrd Skynyrd. But they wear it in an almost Southern gothic style — all creepy and spooky and dark and heavy, like the musty curtains in a decaying mansion. They plumb the dirty South, all right — at least, they did Saturday night at their ACL Fest performance, with several tunes from “The Dirty South” album: “The Day John Henry Died,” “Cottonseed” and “Carl Perkins’ Cadillac” among them.
DBT always has offered an interesting perspective on the human condition — particularly as lived in the South. With both reverence and irreverence, respect and clear-eyed skepticism, they layer story after story into each song. Gritty, grainy, Dust Bowl-dry at times — like Zilker Park was as the sun went down Saturday — DBT delivered well-received commentary on a variety of issues, always told in the context of the double- or triple-guitar attack (in time-honored Southern rock tradition) of Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley and/or Jason Isbell, and the deep, ominous bass of Shonna Tucker, along with propulsive drumming by Brad Morgan.
Perhaps the best statement about what DBT stands for can be summed up in an icon found on the drum riser: a velvet Elvis painting. Reverence and irreverence, indeed.
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