Drive-By Truckers put on their ‘Boots’

by Nikki M. Mascali
Weekender Editor

When the Weekender caught up with Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers, he had only arrived home to Athens, Ga., the night before. But instead of coming off one of the lengthy tours DBT is known for, the singer/songwriter was home from a family vacation — but not for long.

Another leg of the band’s “Go-Go Boots Tour,” named after the album that dropped earlier this year, beckoned, and it’s a leg that would have brought Patterson and bandmates Mike Cooley, John Neff, Brad Morgan, Shonna Tucker and Jay Gonzalez to the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre Tuesday, June 21. However, the Kirby announced Friday, June 10 that the show was canceled due to a “scheduling conflict.” The conflict in question? A performance on The Late Show With David Letterman that same day.

Songs for “Go-Go Boots” were borne out of 2009 studio time that got split between that album and last year’s “The Big To Do.”

“We set out to make a straight-ahead kind of rock record, but we had all these songs that just didn’t quite fit that,” Hood began in his easy Southern drawl, “so we decided since we were in the studio havin’ fun and being very creative, we decided to just record it all, and then sort it out; but it kind of sorted itself out.”

While the band enjoyed recording that way, the process ended up being a bit overwhelming.

“The reality of releasing two records that close together was a little daunting,” Hood confessed. “We’d done it before, but not since we’ve all had kids.”

DBT was founded in 1996 by Hood and Cooley, who, come August, will have been friends for 26 years — not that the two commemorate the date.

“We talked about trying to do something for our 25th last year, but we were just so busy,” he said, sharing that that anniversary fell on a tour date with Tom Petty. “I think we had a little celebration in Chicago one night and toasted it, but he’s not that sentimental anyway,” he added, chuckling. “It’s a rare thing — there aren’t a lot of bands out there that boast a quarter-century partnership.”

Over the past 15 years, DBT has had its share of drama and what Hood called “an infamous number of personnel changes,” notably the departure of guitarist Jason Isbell, Tucker’s ex-husband. The band had a few tumultuous years and nearly broke up, but it soldiered on and saw its highest Billboard charting with “The Big To-Do.” Unlike most bands where bad times in the past stay in the past, those dark days came roaring back with the release of Barr Weissman’s documentary, “The Secret To A Happy Ending.”

“We were putting out our brand-new record, and this was rehashing one of the worst periods of the band,” Hood said, pausing to let his dog out. “I had some trepidation … but I love it when I’m wrong.”

Hood is the son of David Hood, a musician, renowned producer and founder of the celebrated Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Despite “falling in love with” the Sex Pistols and The Clash in junior high, the younger Hood always loved his dad’s music.

“The Shoals stuff and especially the r&b and soul stuff they did,” he said. “It’s always been among my favorite stuff in the world, but it took him a while to warm up to the more brassy stuff that I got into.”

Before letting Hood go watch his son, who just learned how to walk, totter around, the Weekender had to know how the band’s name came to be.

“You know, you’ve got to be careful what you name your band,” he said. “I’m OK with being a Drive-By Trucker, I guess, but I don’t know if I’d name it that now.”

At the time of the DBT’s inception, Hood was listening to a lot of country music like Loretta Lynn and Hank Williams for the first time, and the only new music he was listening to was hip-hop.

“I was writing all these songs that were country songs, but probably more in subject matter like a hip-hop song,” Hood recalled. “(The name) was kind of funny, but not overly joke-y.

“I think sometimes people hear it and think they’re not going to like it. If I had a $1 for every time someone said they thought they were going to hate us because of our name or saying that we’re Southern rock, God forbid, I’d probably be able to afford some time off,” he added with a laugh.

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