Glenn Raucher first became engrossed with the music of Drive-By Truckers during his hour-long commutes on the New York train. During one evening ride he found himself particularly captivated by “Cassie’s Brother,” a song from the album Southern Rock Opera about the Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist who passed away in a plane crash. Despite not considering himself a writer, he had the idea to “reverse-engineer” the songs on the album into poetic monologues, imagining new characters and fleshing out their worlds. In an article published on Medium about the project, Raucher says, “I wanted their imagined stories to inhabit the same spaces that the characters in Southern Rock Opera did, and hopefully come to life the same way that [Patterson] Hood and [Mike] Cooley brought to life the deacon’s daughter’s boyfriend, Ronnie Van Zant and Neil Young, George Wallace, the Devil himself and all the other characters interspersed throughout SRO.” Members of the Drive-By Truckers fan community will be reading these poems aloud as part of the week’s homecoming celebrations.
WHO: “Shadow Country” Poetry Readings
WHEN: Wednesday, Feb. 12, 4 p.m.
WHERE: Flicker Theatre & Bar
HOW MUCH: $10 suggested donation
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