Decoration Day

"Rock and roll means well, but it can't help tellin' young boys lies." The Drive by Truckers paint a picture of growing up with a simple lifestyle in the South through song topics such as their father's influence, rock n' roll, finding love, family pride, religion and the overall Southern attitude. The five-piece's previous album, Southern Rock Opera, floored critics initially but eventually became too much of a hassle due to its excessiveness and two-disc format. The opera, hilariously based on the career of Lynyrd Skynyrd, had all the makings of a classic but fell into abstruseness despite it's near perfect content and admirable ambition. Clearly known for putting out challenging albums, the Truckers wisely present their most accessible work to date with Decoration Day. 

A few songs on Decoration Day include cited inspirations listed in the liner notes starting with "The Deeper In," a teaser of a song inspired by the only two people in America currently serving time for consensual brother/sister incest. The song works as a subtext about the common misconception that "country folk" are all inbred and dumb, but here's the catch - Patterson Hood isn't the cowpoke he fronts as. Just as Batman was a bat and Superman was super, the Drive By Truckers are modern men acting as 1960's country boys. Acting. Trust me, it works. Rarely can a band strategically create something so sincere; the Truckers ain't fessin' it.

Modestly recorded and produced in Atlanta by David Barbe, Decoration Day sounds very authentic throughout. "Hell No, I Ain't Happy" is a personal theme song about being down but still having a good enough attitude to say "Hell no I ain't happy, but I ain't too crappy at all." Sounds corny, right? Somehow it works. The Truckers use charm as their super power. Incest, untimely marriage proposals and house painting - all are made to seem compelling.

"Outfit" could be a contender for one of the year's best songs. Initially coming off as a modestly written song, "Outfit" is so precise in its wording that it plays out like a great film script in that it nearly sums up a whole culture with just a few simple words. "Outfit" is a perfect example of how the Truckers lyrics seem amateurish at first but again rely entirely on charm, eventually setting in and seeming perfect.

Decoration Day is all about spirit, honesty, sincerity and, most importantly, self discovery. The album runs a bit long and inevitably tails off a bit in the later half. However, the songs that hit are easily some of the best classic rock moments of recent memory. "I'd rather wrestle an alligator than to face the banker's scorn."    7.5/10

Written by G. William Locke