Truckers new album covers Iraq, romance

Patterson Hood said it was difficult to decide which tracks to include on the Drive-By Truckers' latest album and which ones to leave out.

They were all good and seemed to fit.

So in the end, "Brighter Than Creation's Dark" ended up with 18 tracks, that in typical Truckers' style, include a variety of music from country to slow ballads to trademark guitar-heavy rockers.

"We didn't really have an agenda this time, but to go in and record a bunch of songs," Hood said from his home in Athens, Ga. "The next thing you know we've got 18 songs."

"Brighter Than Creation's Dark" will be released Jan. 22 by New West Records.

Hood, who started his musical career in the Shoals, said "Brighter Than Creation's Dark" was the band's easiest album to make.

"There was no controversy in the band about anything," he said. "It all happened very naturally. Everyone had some vision about what to do and where to go. It's better when you don't have to talk about it too much."

The album starts out with the

poignant "Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife" then kicks into high gear with the hard rocking Mike Cooley track "3 Dimes Down."

The third Track, "The Righteous Path," was recorded late in the sessions. Hood said the track gave the album a needed "burst of energy."

While Hood and Cooley remain the Truckers' primary song writers, the album marks the debut of bassist Shonna Tucker as a songwriter and vocalist.

Hood said he knew Tucker wrote songs, but she was never forthcoming about bringing them to the band.

"She showed up at the studio with a four-track (recording) of two songs she wrote, "I'm Sorry Huston" and "Purgatory Lines," Hood said. "A week into recording she wrote "Home Field Advantage."

Tucker's tracks mark a return of the Truckers' country side, which was much evident in early Truckers' albums.

Tucker's soulful voice is complemented by the pedal steel guitar of John Neff, who has recorded with the Truckers since the band was formed.

Neff became an official Trucker after the departure of Jason Isbell in early 2007.

"They're a great addition to the record," Hood said of Tucker's three tracks. "I think her voice works real well with mine and Cooley's in different ways."

The longest track on the album, "That Man I Shot," was inspired by an encounter on the road with three fans who happened to have served in the military in the Middle East. Hood said two of the veterans were staying home while the third, who wasn't readjusting to civilian life, was returning to the Middle East.

"It left us all pretty moved," Hood said. "They had pretty strong feelings about the whole thing, some of which they shared and some they didn't."

Hood said he's leaving it up to the listener to determine if "That Man I Shot" is a war protest song or just an observation of the situation in the Middle East.

The shortest track, "You and Your Crystal Meth," is an eerie, echo-filled statement about a drug that has become a blight on rural America.

The song marked the point where Hood knew Neff had to become a permanent member of the band.

"I love his contribution to that song," he said.

It was also a track that allowed David Barbe to experiment and truly shine as the Truckers' producer.

Hood said the majority of the album was recorded in 10 days at Barbe's Chase Park Transduction Studio in Athens, Ga.

Most of the songs were written after Halloween 2006 and many were showcased during the Truckers' "Dirt Underneath" acoustic tour this past summer.

"We worked a good bit of the record up during the course of the tour," Hood said. "By the end of the tour we were playing eight or nine new songs a night."

Hood said unlike past efforts like "Southern Rock Opera", "Decoration Day" and "The Dirty South", "Brighter Than Creation's Dark" is not a concept album and does not come with an agenda.

He said band set out to purposely make this album different from the others in that respect and to "avoid all the things we were semi-famous for."

"Brighter Than Creation's Dark" also featured the keyboards of noted Muscle Shoals session player Spooner Oldham, who joined the band for the "Dirt Underneath" tour.

Hood said the relationship with a man that recorded with his father, bassist and co-founder of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section David Hood, began when the Truckers were recording the Bettye Lavette album at FAME Studios in 2007.

Oldham was asked the join the band for the "Dirt Underneath" tour and then joined the Truckers for the "Brighter Than Creation's Dark" recording sessions.

"He's a big part of this one," Hood said.

He said Oldham would not accompany the band on its upcoming tour, but would be sitting in for selected shows.

"Brighter Than Creation's Dark" will also mark the end

of the Truckers' relationship with New West Records, who released the band's last three albums.

"We won't be resigning with them," Hood said. This is a good time to be an independent band. The old ways of doing things are not always the best way of doing things."

Russ Corey can be reached at 740-5738 or russ.corey@timesdaily.com.