Hindustan Times
Southern discomfort
Take a stiff shot of the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Add some more grit, grime and edge. Shake it up well in an old cocktail-shaker and serve it straight up. What you’ll get is what a band called Drive-By Truckers serves up. I first came across the Truckers when I heard their two-CD epic, The Southern Rock Opera, released in 2001. A concept album that explores southern rock music, the album is themed on Lynyrd Skynyrd, the rock band that Ronnie Van Zant founded in 1965. Van Zant and two of his band members were killed in a plane crash in 1977 but not before Lynyrd Skynyrd garnered a huge following—even in India. On my infrequent visits to some Delhi bars I still hear their anthemic song, Free Bird, being played by DJs.
Patterson Hood, band leader of Drive-By Truckers, is a rarity among Southern bands – a thinking man’s songwriter
I didn’t much care for what Lynyrd Skynyrd started churning out after the band reformed without Van Zant. The new music lacked the songwriting flair that he brought to the band. So when I discovered Drive-By Truckers, it was like revisiting the old Skynyrd but with a modern touch. Like their idols, the Truckers are a three-guitar band but much punchier and more muscle bound than Skynyrd ever were. After listening to The Southern Rock Opera, I went and bought Decoration Day, The Dirty South and A Blessing and a Curse, all of them great albums.
At the core of their music, besides the trademark guitar riffs are the ragged and torn yet deeply emotional vocals of band-leader Patterson Hood. On many of these albums, Hood, the Truckers’ principal songwriter, explores life at the margins in southern American states such as
Alabama among drug-dealers, laid-off workers and gangsters. Hood, I felt, was a rarity—a thinking man’s songwriter in a genre that is often dismissed as being too redneck-ish.
Last week, I began dusting off some of my southern rock albums and giving them a listen. Alright, the immediate provocation was that I had just met a southern gentleman, former US president George Bush, whose trademark Texan drawl and surprisingly self-deprecating down-home humour was a very pleasant surprise. Drive-By Truckers aren’t from Texas, though, they’re from Athens, Georgia (as are R.E.M., by the way, and Widespread Panic) but that’s south, nevertheless.
Call it serendipity or whatever, as I was revisiting my pile of Truckers, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Allman Brothers Band albums, a podcast popped up with an interview of Patterson Hood and a showcase of his second solo album called Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs). On the interview, Hood talked about his personal struggles: a traumatic divorce that led him to move out of Alabama to Georgia; his first solo songs that were too personal to be used by the band; his remarriage and fatherhood and so on. The album itself has 13 songs, some, such as Pollyanna, written when he was going through emotional turmoil, and other, newer ones, such as Granddaddy, which he wrote when his new wife was expecting their daughter.
But the piece de resistance on the album (and my favourite) is Heavy and Hanging, a song Hood wrote as a tribute to Kurt Cobain. There’s a story behind the song that Hood relates on the interview. It was April 8, 1994 and Hood had just moved to Georgia and was preparing to sign the lease of his new home and, as he says, the beginning of his new post-divorce life, when he heard on the radio the shocking news that Cobain’s body had been found. The song is a brilliant tribute to the Nirvana frontman and can be the basis for buying the album, particularly so if you happen to be a Nirvana fan.
Hood’s solo work doesn’t have the blistering riffs of the three lead guitars that the Truckers’ songs have but it has his mellower yet still quite shredded vocals. I made a playlist that blends a few old Truckers’ songs in with some of Hood’s solo ones and found them to be a perfect accompaniment while driving back from work in the evening. I’m told The Bottle Rockets, another southern band from Missouri, and the Backyard Tire Fire, from North Carolina, also make music that celebrates the contemporary south but I’m yet to hear them. Till then I have my Truckers’ and Hood tracks on repeat.
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...Posted by Sanjoy Narayan on Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Filed under Download Central · Tagged A Blessing and a Curse, Alabama, Decoration Day, Download Central, Drive-By Truckers, Free Bird, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Music, Patterson Hood, Ronnie Van Zant, Southern discomfort, The Dirty South, The Southern Rock Opera
Hey
Awesome Articles!
This is a request by me on behalf of all Tokio Hotel Fans from India,
Can you please write a column on Tokio Hotel?Their new album ‘Humanoid’ has just released in India and has also been reviewed by Luke Kenny.
It’s really a different album,mixing rock with pop and electronic.And just 3 days ago they won the European Music Award for ‘Best Group’!
Thanks
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Hey
Will you be blogging on Tokio Hotel’s ‘Humanoid’ anytime soon? It’s really an amazing album.
It was recently reviewed by Luke Kenny,who gave it 3 stars.They have evolved from a local band from Magdeburg,Germany to a super successful international band with a fanbase now being compared to that of which The Beatles had in the 80’s.They recently picked up the EMA for ‘Best Group’!
‘Humanoid’ is now available in stores in India.Namely,Rhythm House,Crosswords and Planet M.
Hope to see an article on Tokio Hotel soon!
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Sanjoy Narayan Reply:
November 8th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Wow! You folks are really into Tokio Hotel!
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Hey Sunjoy
Lynyrd Skynyrd is an amazing band and one of major Southern Rock acts.They recently released their latest album “God & Guns”.But as you aptly stated, they were way better lyrically as well as in terms of quality of music with Ronnie Van Zant. After Ronnie they haven’t really got their act together.
Well IMAO , Tokio Hotel is more of a lame punk-pop bunch who write and sing shallow lyrical content,which can be appealing only to a few teenage girls.
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Talking about hotels, I just came across Neutral Milk Hotel. A pretty short lived band(94-99), but amazing still.
Check out their Everything Is EP. And, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. The latter was pretty critically acclaimed.
And, I’d love to see a post on Funk/Psychedelic.
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Sanjoy Narayan Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Neutral Milk Hotel was brilliant. I have Everything Is, the EP, and a few tracks from their two full-lengths. Have you heard Jeff Mangum’s solo projects?
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Sarthak ? Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
No :S
I heard his collaboration with Koster, though.
And, later, in Circulatory System’s Signal Morning. What ARE his sol projects? :/
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Sanjoy Narayan Reply:
November 11th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
There’s an album called Live at Jittery Joe’s. Quite nice.
@Shiva_17 I’m sorry but i dont agree with that.
You must have mixed up Tokio Hotel with the Jonas Brothers,Miley Cyrus and the like.If they were that LAME with SHALLOW LYRICS,they wouldn’t have won at the EMA’s and VMA’s for the past 3 years consecutively would they?nor would their album go Platinum in Greece within 4 days?
And the fanbase isn’t restricted to a few teenage girls.There ARE several other fans of all age groups,including my parents who are into their new album ‘Humanoid’.
Sadly nowdays,people try to find the ‘next’ Beatles/ACDC/MJ in every new artist around which causes them to respond in a rather shallow manner.
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Shiva_17 Reply:
November 9th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
@Ishita K
Oh I never knew “Tokio Hotel” fan following runs so deep in and around you ,so it was bound to generate a baffled response.
Nonetheless Jonas Brothers,Miley Cyruses are not even worthy of single listening and they are least of my concern. I caught up with your very own “Tokio Hotel”,as they labeled themselves a rock band and thus listened to their “Scream” (2007), but they were more of “punk-goth-pop electro” scraps who just rode on the wave of their unworthy limited popularity. “Ready Set Go.Time to Run”… Ohh please they should get above this amateurish stuff after as many as five studio albums.
And I don’t know how many other bands/artistes you listen to (or not),but you should understand the thing behind these EMA’s and VMA’s ,they are nothing but “Whoever Comes Should Get An Award” sort of affair,much similar to our several useless Hindi Movie awards, so they are no measure to gauge the artistic brilliance of any act/band.
Finally ,nobody tries to find NEXT Beatles/ACDC/MJ in every new artist ,at least, as these people were unrivaled,unmatched and peerless with years of consistent good work,although there are heaps of bands shouting their lungs out like “Tokio Hotel” etc.
So I strongly suggest you should give a try to some other bands which are actually Rock Bands,then you will be in better position to comprehend what music is,what lyrics are.
Meanwhile enjoy your ‘Humanoid’ with several other fans of all age groups.
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Ishita K Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 12:21 am
Well lMAO, Dude you’re hilarious.
I mean,you actually have the time to comment and deride other people’s opinions on music or lyrics,without knowing them.Neither did I address you in my first post nor did I ask you for any wise advice on which band I should listen to,or which band I shouldn’t listen to.Obviously,you haven’t even bothered listening to ‘Humanoid’,of which many tracks include collaborations with Korn and Guy Chambers.
You’re obviously one of those narrow minded people who judge a book by a cover,or in this case,an artist by its fans.
For all I know,you may just be one of those hypocrites who label nonsensical songs like ‘Kajra Re’ as the best song of the year.
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Sanjoy Narayan Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 11:49 am
Peace, folks!
Shiva_17 Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Hey Ishita K
Thats again a nice tough reply. This thing can go on for eternity but I know I started it so I am ending it… but please don’t incriminate me with fatal burden of aiding a musical blunder “Kajra Re” in any way what so ever because I never even try to listen such stuff.
You proved a worthy adversary.Keep this spirit up always…
Enjoy your music (whatever band/genre it is.)
Take care. Cheers…
Darshan Reply:
November 16th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Hey Sanjoy!
Don’t you a raise a white flag! The trouble, when it comes to music, is a whole generation has been (and is being) fed on mediocrity . Any thrash is being lapped up as music. How else can you explain the popularity of the likes of Akon or Snoop Dogg? I did check out Tokio Hotel and it is LAME…
And Ishika, we are talkin’ quality music here. Before you go ballistic with me too i want you to listen to these southern rock songs and weigh them against your tokio hotel.
Marshall tucker band - Cant you see.
The outlaws - green grass & high tides.
The Allman Brothers band - midnight rider, sweet melissa, whipping post.
ZZ TOP - La Grange.
Blackfoot - Highway song.
The Charlie Daniels band - long haired country boy.
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Freebird, sweet home Alabama, Simple man, Gimme three steps.
That’s some of the best of Southern Rock that i can think of. And that’s what good music sounds like. Sanjoy, back me up here.[:)]
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Sanjoy Narayan Reply:
November 21st, 2009 at 1:26 pm
hmmmm….
Hahahahahhaa. Ishita K, no offence, but you’re really naive. Beatles aren’t even that much of a rock band. Except for Sgt. Peppers[Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
:D], they were pretty much a boi band with a female teenager fan following.
And, I concur with Shiva, Tokio Hotel are definietly a pop-screamo-goth-emo act. I won’t go far as to say they suck. But … Ah, to hell with it - They do suck. :/
And collaboration with Korn is pretty much the same shit. Korn is nu-metal fercrissake. Call me a f***ed up purist, but nu-metal is almost as bad as BFMV.
\\m// \\m//
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Tokio Hotel.. I am not much of a hater and I respect other people’s choice/taste of music but Tokio Hotel is one dumb soundin band for sure.. Sorry if it hurts anyone..
@sujoy Great articles. Have been silently going through them for a while now
I am sure as soon as Radiohead get back to studio this winter after thom’s solo /unnamed band madness, you will be up with the weapon and pen down some stuff on them.
Keep’em coming
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Sanjoy Narayan Reply:
November 12th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Thanks, Fidel. Yes, I am waiting for the Radiohead album! Meanwhile, there’s so much to listen to and so little time…. Hope to hear from you again.
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This is a good blog. Sanjoy’s writing is crisp and he’s good at choosing the subjects of his articles. I particularly like the video links that he posts. The article on Nick Drake motivated me to go back to practicing my guitar after a long break due to my restrictive work schedule. Thanks Sanjoy!
Some of the reader comments baffle me though. People branding songs as ‘musical blunder’, throwing names of bands and talking as if they are pundits … guys, be a little less pretentious please! The kind of music you listen and like does not define the boundaries of music. Respect other people’s choice!
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Sanjoy Narayan Reply:
November 14th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Thanks, Prince, for your comments on the blog. I’m glad you liked the Nick Drake post. His work is indeed under-rated.
Cheers
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I quite liked your blog!
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Wow,nice to see the plenty of respect given to other bands/people’s music tastes here.
You cant expect EVERYONE to listen to the music only YOU PEOPLE listen to.
I love Tokio Hotel’s music,and that’s my opinion.No one’s going to change that.
You people seriously have no sense of respect for other’s choice in music.
@Sarthak Did I ask for your goddamn opinion?
“Hahahahahhaa. Ishita K, no offence, but you’re really naive”"But … Ah, to hell with it - They do suck. :/”
Do you even know me? Naive?
@Fidel haha thats your opinion..”but Tokio Hotel is one dumb soundin band for sure.. Sorry if it hurts anyone..”.Curious, but what exactly do you mean by ‘dumb soundin’? =)
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you like TH .. good enuff.. I dont like it dats my opinion.. now dont go gaga over it..
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ok sorry….the negative comments are just pissing me off.
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