With the deserved accolades accompanying their 2001 double-disc magnum opus, Southern Rock Opera, newcomers the Drive-By Truckers have the unenviable task of following up one of the more ambitious records of the (very) early 21st century with a critical spotlight shining directly into their eyes. Despite the pressure, they’ve managed to avoid repeating themselves—or worse, buying into the hype that made them a flagship band of the newly re-energized Southern rock scene. Decoration Day is possessed by an entirely different kind of energy: one that appears to be the result of a complete emotional U-turn.
Lead Trucker Patterson Hood and cohorts (guitarists/vocalists Mike Cooley and Jason Isbell, bassist Earl Hicks and drummer Brad Morgan) are still channeling that old Van Zandt spirit to come to grips with their “Southern-ness,” but, where Southern Rock Opera focused its attention on big Men—capital-M Men like longtime Alabama governor George Wallace, whose iconic personas have strongly informed the Southern culture for the better part of the last quarter-century—Decoration Day casts a much smaller net, grappling with more personal struggles.
The title and cover art, which depicts a decorated grave, give a hint of insight into the album’s somber, mood—several of its tracks draw sketches of down-on-luck Southerners facing some of life’s biggest decisions and deepest losses. Opener “The Deeper In,” the story of two siblings serving time for their incestuous relationship, is remarkably sparse, with Hood leading the song in a cappella before being joined by skeletal guitars and Brad Morgan’s slow, martial drums. The thunderous “Sink Hole,” loosely based on filmmaker Ray McKinnon’s short film The Accountant (a 2002 Oscar winner), finds the narrator wishing death on the unctuous banker foreclosing on his struggling family farm.
Even the songs that a New England–raised, East Coast liberal-college-attending snark (er, not me, really) might find “rednecky” are propped up by the unwavering dignity of their narrators. Sure, new guitarist Jason Isbell’s contribution, “Outfit,” has its more than its share of bastard children, blue-collar housepainters and cars pawned for wedding rings, but there’s also fatherly advice like, “Don’t worry about losin’ your accent/Southern men tell better jokes,” and, “Call home on your sister’s birthday.”
But it’s not until we reach the two full-fledged epics—Hood’s nearly seven-minute “Your Daddy Hates Me” and the Isbell-penned title track—which lead the charge on the album’s second half that the Truckers’ vision for the album fully crystallizes. The former follows a hard-drinking, self-loathing narrator (“I’d probably hate me, too”) as he finds redemption in his faithfulness to women, backed by a slow-cooking dirge that mimics the beating he’s taken in his lifetime. The roiling title track, meanwhile, recounts a son’s relationship with his dead father, both of whom were involved in a generation-spanning blood feud. The confusion surrounding the origin of the decades-old battle boils over in a roaring coda that easily stands as the album’s emotional core. Which is when it becomes clear: This album is about pride—regional and personal—and honor.
Some may insist that Decoration Day’s cohesiveness suffers from Hood, Cooley, and Isbell continually trading off lead vocals, but I find it adds an essential component of plausibility. That each of the record’s protagonists is given his own unique voice only lends conviction to this record’s examination of life in the South—one of the best since, well, Southern Rock Opera, actually. And while its peaks fall just a whit short of those on its predecessor, Decoration Day’s inward journeys nicely balance out Southern Rock Opera’s bombastic expansiveness, and further confirm the Drive-By Truckers’ status as the most poetic and insightful Southern rockers in existence today.
