I do feel bad for the bigger bands bc it’s such a small room but from an audience standpoint it’s ideal
Midweek concerts are ideal because it’s so easy to get close to the action. This is from the Tabernacle in 2018
I just saw a job posting for an investment director for a social impact fund and this was one of the listed qualifications: A nuanced understanding of how the construct of race has impacted the distribution of power and resources across the American South check. thanks dbt.
Drive-By Truckers 5m · Welcome 2 Club XIII, Out June 3, 2022 DBT’s 14th studio album, marks a sharp departure from the trenchant political commentary of the last three records. A reckoning with the dualities of the things that make you alive and how they sometimes can kill you. A life affirming flashlight for the dark nights of one’s soul. With guest appearances including Margo Price, Mike Mills and Schaefer Lllana. The first single (and title track) is a tongue in cheek homage to a local dive that Cooley and Patterson played in their early days. Disco lights and industrial carpet, they would occasionally play to a near empty room or open for a hair metal cover band. As the song says “Our glory days did kinda suck”.
I think Armageddon’s Back in Town was the first song they released off the Unraveling, and was one of the weaker tracks on the album, so hopefully it’s all uphill from here. Not a fan of that song though
Interesting. What albums do you consider rough? I don’t think they will ever top the SRO, Decoration Day, Dirty South albums, but I largely enjoyed English Oceans and American Band. The Unraveling had some decent songs and I thought New OK was pretty good for essentially a b sides album.
Oh, I’m a fan of those. I just couldn’t fathom him referring to them as “rough” nor do I think they’re on the level of SRO, DD, and DS so I didn’t mention them in my post.
That also brings up a related question: is Brighter Than a Creation’s Dark too long? I feel like I would have it higher in my album rankings if it was just the 12 best songs off that album.
Yes and they should’ve used the original version of Goode’s Field Road. I think BTD and GGB could’ve been combined into one album too.
Music tastes are totally subjective so I'm not gonna be the guy that sits here and screams "YOU'RE WRONG!" But to my ears, DBT (Patterson and Cooley, specifically) has been in a songwriting rut for a minute now. To expect them to recreate the classic early albums is unfair, IMO, just as it would be to expect that for any band. They totally remade themselves and killed it with Brighter Than Creation's Dark. To this day, that album has some of my favorite DBT tunes of all time. I also found good things on both The Big To-Do and Go-Go Boots. The rut, for me, starts at English Oceans. There's very little on that one that I want to go back and listen to. American Band was obviously a departure and has a couple good tracks on it (What It Means, Ever South), but it's mostly filler. The nosedive is what's happened on the last two albums. Didn't Patterson and Cooley say they had writer's block before releasing one of them? Between the two albums, Thoughts and Prayers and a Ramones cover are the only tracks I come back to. It feels like every record of theirs in the last decade has featured Patterson trying to shoehorn multi-syllabic words into rhyme and meter and it just doesn't work. But hey, I value your takes on it, as well!
American band is absolutely fantastic, and the new ok is a very good album too. I still don’t love english oceans and the unraveling, but they both have good songs on the album. brighter than has some filler, but I’m never going complain about too many DBT songs. I really like Shonna’s songs on there too.
Perhaps my hottest DBT take is that Shonna's songs are all really good. They are definitely past their prime. To a point that it's not even fair to compare anything recent to the run they went on in the early 2000s. That was one of the best runs in history and they completely blazed a trail for a new genre of music. It absolutely blows my mind that they aren't world famous from those records (i am specifically talking about the run of Southern Rock Opera to Brighter than Creation's Dark) Brighter than Creations Dark is my favorite DBT album. But the new stuff is still better than most new stuff I come across. Just looking at the New Okay track list and I really enjoyed most of those. Especially Sarah's Flame and Watching the Orange Clouds.
Headed to Denver on Saturday then seeing Jason Isbell and Waxahatchee at Red Rocks on Tuesday night. Wife and I ordered shuttle tickets to take us to/from the show as someone recommended having transportation figured out beforehand. Our tickets are general admission. Anyone have tips to make sure we get the most out of our 1st trip to Red Rocks? They released the live version from their 2021 Red Rocks show on BandCamp and the setlist was awesome.
Transportation is the most important part, and you've gotten that taken care of so you're way ahead of the game. There are a loooooooot of steps in your future, so make sure you aren't in some dinky flip flops or high heels. A few beers for the way up to the entrance is a nice touch. You can also take food in, but for a concert like this, it might not be necessary. We've been to all-day festivals there and a bag of PB&Js hits the spot after a few hours of and If you got any specific questions, shoot.