Drive-By Truckers

Friday, April 27 & Saturday, April 28 @ Georgia Theatre

originally published April 25, 2007

Danny Clinch

Drive-By Truckers

On the long and bumpy road traveled by the Drive-By Truckers, there've been numerous ups and downs - though over the past several years, certainly more ups than anything else. With this weekend's shows, however, it's time for a left turn. Billed as "The Dirt Underneath," the two performances will highlight the songs buried beneath the rock-and-roll bombast for which the band has become known. Expect vocal harmonies, banjo, upright bass, all in a rustic revisitation to Southern storytelling inspired by an acoustic Truckers show at a North Carolina farm some six years ago.

As with other Truckers shows, there's no pre-determined set list, though new tunes seem likely to wiggle forth. "[We've been] practicing extensively this week, working up a bunch of stuff both real old and brand-new," says Patterson Hood via email, "as well as some differing versions of others. We have 19 songs demoed for the next DBT album, so we'll be hitting a few of those, I'm sure… Shonna will be handling a lot more of the backing vocal duties and hopefully singing some lead vocals on the next album, too."

This weekend's shows also mark the first Athens dates the Truckers will perform without guitarist-songwriter Jason Isbell, who has permanently left the band to focus on his new group The 400 Unit. "We have parted ways with Jason. It's all good and amicable," says Hood. "I'm pretty sure he'll be playing in town with his band around the time his album comes out. I'll be there on the front row if I'm in town." Isbell joined the band after the 2001 departure of guitarist Rob Malone, and his songwriting contributions over the past several albums drew the band a good amount of attention. Original DBT member John Neff is back with the crew full-time, providing guitar and pedal-steel services.

Unable to catch the band this weekend? The Truckers are headlining one night at this summer's AthFest, performing a free outdoor show on Sunday, June 24, back in full-on rock mode.

Chris Hassiotis