Drive-By Truckers @ 9:30 Club

Drive-By Truckers
May 9 & 10, 2008
9:30 Club, Washington, D.C.

Though the symbolism likely was unintended, Drive-By Truckers’ cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Adam Raised a Cain” during the second show of a two-night run at D.C.’s 9:30 Club presented an interesting parallel. On tour to support their eighth well-received album, the Truckers have a lot in common with the “Darkness on the Edge of Town”-era E Street Band. They aren’t appearing on the cover of Time and Newsweek simultaneously, as The Boss did three years before that album in the fall of 1975, but DBT have very much come into their own as a battle-scarred, road-tested touring band. As Springsteen made the jump from Jersey Shore ragamuffin to bona fide Rock Star, Drive-By Truckers have made the move from club rockers to a critically acclaimed outfit with a rabid fan base.

And that Springsteen cover, which started showing up on set lists this year? They completely tore it up, which is how the Truckers earned such a devoted following. As they move into their hard-earned place in the rock pantheon, the Truckers make sure to recognize those who paved the way. They might do it by covering “Adam Raised a Cain,” or by working Springsteen’s “State Trooper” into an encore performance of their own “Buttholeville.” Or by breaking out an anthem that likely became near and dear to them in their younger years: Alice Cooper’s “I’m Eighteen.” On Friday night, they gave a tip of the cap to the late, great Warren Zevon by busting out his “Play it All Night Long.”

The band doesn’t just make an effort to recognize the veterans of the rock wars. They also salute those who didn’t make it out alive. Like Eddie Hinton, whose sweet soul music was blaring from the PA before Friday night’s show. Also Friday, as they do often, the band played “The Living Bubba,” singer/guitarist Patterson Hood’s tribute to friend and fellow musician Greg Smalley, who died of AIDS. He kept rocking to the end, though, and Hood pays him the ultimate compliment when he sings, “I can’t die now cuz I got another show to do.” The closer both nights was The Jim Carroll Band’s “People Who Died.”

Hood clearly feels a kinship with others who have music in their blood. It explains the Springsteen covers. Hood and Springsteen as performers certainly have a bit in common. Both have a sense of showmanship that has nothing to do with melismatic singing or choreography. As a way of thanking the fans for parting with their hard earned dollars, they give the people their money’s worth in sweat and stamina. In the course of a three-hour night, they end up on their knees, on top of the monitors and flat on their backs, if only until someone fans them with a towel so they may rise and rock again. They learned the work ethic from the same forefathers, too: southern soul men like Otis Redding, James Brown and Wilson Pickett. Springsteen admired them from afar while growing up in New Jersey. Hood, who grew up across the river from Muscle Shoals, Ala., likely picked up a little bit of it in the drinking water.

The Truckers – Hood, singer/guitarist Mike Cooley, guitarist John Neff, bassist Shonna Tucker and drummer Brad Morgan – are as hard-working an outfit as you’re likely to find this side of Springsteen’s traveling gang, and worthy successors to the throne when the E Streeters finally call it a night (if they ever do). They certainly gave the people plenty of what they wanted during the two nights in D.C., mixing selections from this year’s “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark” with selections from all of their albums.

Drive-By Truckers soldier on despite one major change in the past couple years: The departure of singer/guitarist Jason Isbell. In his six years with the band, he wrote some of the band’s most popular songs, fan favorites such as “Outfit” and “Decoration Day.” The lineup has changed before, and they weathered this change as well. Isbell’s songs were missed from the set lists, but otherwise the band didn’t miss a beat.

To say that the transition was seamless isn’t a knock on Isbell or his formidable skills as a writer and guitarist. It speaks to the strengths of the other players. Isbell’s replacement, Neff, stood out both nights on guitar and pedal steel. He came by his ownership of the material honestly; Neff was an original member of the band and has been a frequent collaborator and sideman over the past several years. Rounding out the lineup and the arrangements was Jay Gonzales on electric piano. (Or Spooner Jr., as my buddy Matt called him, alluding to the role legendary Muscle Shoals sideman Spooner Oldham played on last year’s The Dirt Underneath Tour). Cooley is the perfect foil to Hood, lending an air of laconic cool to the proceedings, and sprinkling the set with gritty realism in his writing that complements Hood’s more cinematic style.

When Isbell joined the band in 2001, he spurred on a period of great creativity that included three outstanding albums. The band continues to grow, and showed a willingness to experiment with tried and true favorites. Neff and Gonzales gave a brief exhibition of this artistic freedom during the first night opener, “Puttin’ People on the Moon.” As the rest of the band rocked out, the duo added dissonant color that veered toward the type of deconstruction you might hear from latter-day Wilco. Neff played guitar on the song the second night, offering further proof that the band can play it more than one day.

They also made a daring change both nights on the fan favorite “Sink Hole.” On the recording and in past performances, the foreclosed farmer at the heart of the song imagines how he’d take his revenge on the land-grabbing banker, shouting defiantly, “Bury his body in the old sinkhole / Bury his body in the old sinkhole / Bury his body in the old sinkhole under cold November sky / Then damned if I wouldn’t go to church on Sunday / Damned if I wouldn’t go to church on Sunday / Damned if I wouldn’t go to church on Sunday / Look the preacher in the eye” and following it with a scream that carries the weight of generations. Now the passage is slower, and Hood sings it more passively, which perhaps suggests the narrator’s conscience is creeping in. Or maybe the calm deliver means it’s more ruthless than ever.

About the only drawback to Drive-By Truckers’ artistic growth and longevity is that you now can see back-to-back shows and still leave feeling a twinge of disappointment over not hearing your favorite song. And that was just about the only drawback to the D.C. stand: There were a lot of repeats between the two shows, which kept a few more of those old favorites from creeping in. The set lists were generous: 23 songs Friday night and 25 on Saturday night, but 11 repeats from the previous night. That’s a minor complaint, especially considering the quality of the performances.

Several of the new songs stood out, particularly Hood’s “The Righteous Path” and Cooley’s “A Ghost to Most,” “3 Dimes Down” and “Self Destructive Zones,” which means that fans’ obscure favorites might show up even less in the future.

Both nights ended with opening act The Dexateens joining the Truckers for the last two songs, “Buttholeville” and “People Who Died.” The free-for-all jam was a nice way for Drive-By Truckers to play big brother (and sister) to a little old Alabama band with much less touring experience. Mostly, though, it was loud, loose and fun. And that’s always been the key. It is for Springsteen, and it is for Drive-By Truckers. Their traveling road show is such a success, as it was in Washington, because it plays like a big party, a celebration of heroes, hidden gems and the healing power of rock and roll. After a glorious two-night stand, they packed up the bus and rolled to another town. But they’re sure to return again, and again, for as long as they are able. Because baby, they were born to run.

Set lists
Friday, May 9
Puttin’ People on the Moon
Where the Devil Don’t Stay
The Righteous Path
One of These Days
The Company I Keep
Play it All Night Long
Gravity’s Gone
The Living Bubba
You and Your Crystal Meth
Goode’s Field Road
A Ghost to Most
I’m Sorry Huston
Sink Hole
Dead, Drunk and Naked
Guitar Man Upstairs
Lookout Mountain
Encore
3 Dimes Down
Zip City
Let There Be Rock
A World of Hurt
Buttholeville-State Trooper-Buttholeville
People Who Died

Saturday, May 10
That Man I Shot
Self Destructive Zones
The Righteous Path
A Ghost to Most
Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife
Daddy Needs a Drink
Bob
Why Henry Drinks
Sink Hole
3 Dimes Down
Adam Raised a Cain
Ronnie and Neil
Marry Me
Steve McQueen
One of These Days
Puttin’ People on the Moon
Shut Up and Get on the Plane
I’m Eighteen
Let There Be Rock
Encore
Zip City
18 Wheels of Love
Lookout Mountain
Buttholeville-State Trooper-Buttholeville
People Who Died