...when ninety-nine and a half won't do.
Heat Lightning
Rumbles in the Distance
Ato Records
The Drive-By Truckers frontman’s third solo record is also
his best. The fallout from an unfinished novel, these songs exhibit the same
southern literacy Hood is known for, but this time the themes are slightly
interwoven, like flashbacks and echoes rumbling in the distance. Crunchy guitar
anthems are traded for introspective tunes punctuated by banjo, pedal steel, piano
and cello, then fleshed out with lines like the
sky was as gray as an open chord. With help from fellow Truckers,
Centro-Matic and vocalist Kelly Hogan, Patterson Hood has explored the forces
of his nature and crafted a work of art.
The Georgia
Bootleg Box
Evil Teen Records
Webster’s definition of juggernaut doesn’t include
guitar, bass and drums, but if he gave a listen to these sixty-two slabs of bluesy
rock from three successive nights in April 1996 during the band’s slash and
burn swath through Athens, Atlanta and Macon, he’d be more than willing to
reconsider. Warren Haynes, one of the best true rock guitarists of the day,
leads bassist Allen Woody and drummer Matt Abts, with help from fellow guitar
slingers Derek Trucks and Tinsley Ellis, through Mule catalog stalwarts and
covers from Little Feat, the Grateful Dead, Blind Faith, ZZ Top, Steppenwolf, and
Chuck Berry.
Curtis Lynch
November 2012
