Drive-By Truckers - 'The Big To-Do' (16/3/2010)

On the one side of the coin, the Drive-By Truckers are dirty red-necks that shouldn’t be allowed to leave their hometown of Athens, Georgia. But if they stayed home we wouldn’t get to see the other, perhaps preferred side. The side that shows the Drive-By Truckers as well versed rockers that appreciate America’s south for the way of life, the cooking, and the families they live with. On their latest outing, ‘The Big To-Do,’ both sides of the coin are in full force.

The dirty side of this album is evident on such cuts as ‘Fourth Night of My Drinking’ and ‘Birthday Boy,’ two songs that are gauranteed crowd favorites. There’s no dilly-dallying with these songs, they are just in your face rockers about drinking and hookers, respectively. ‘Birthday Boy’ is one of three Mike Cooley songs on this album and it just goes to show that he needs to bring more to the table. At the very least he needs to release a solo album – his songs are so lyrically rich that picturing him as a soft-spoken (alcoholic) dad who speaks nothing but words of great value is not an image which is difficult to attach to him.

Bassist Shonna Tucker steps up once again to join the Drive-By Truckers songwriters guild to show that brighter side of the coin. This time around she’s presenting two cuts that are leaps and bounds better than the songs she delivered for the band’s previous effort. She’s poured a lot of soul and emotion into ‘You Got Another,’ but three songs later she turns into your little rock n’ roll girlfriend on ‘(It’s Gonna Be) I Told You So.’

Even though lead songwriter Pattersoon Hood doesn’t always lay gold to tape, the standout track on ‘The Big To-Do’ belongs to him. ‘This Fucking Job’ will have Drive-By Trucker fans in a tizzy and will surely turn into an anthem as it showcases both sides of the DBT coin.

For the most part ‘The Big To-Do’ is another solid Drive-By Truckers release. To have heard Hood repeatedly announce from the tallest buildings around that this album was going to be a balls-to-the-wall rock album is a little disappointing because that led me to believe another ‘The Dirty South’ was on its way. So don’t expect that. Put the hype he tried to create aside and appreciate this record for what it is – a slab of rock n’ roll, a touch of emotion, and a whole bunch of social commentary. God damn, do I love this band!

7/10