I almost didn’t go back to my graduate work after a visit to my bff Whitney’s place in Nashville. I went down with Amber on a Thursday a few weeks ago, for what would be a nice little concert, a spooky tour of the Bell Witch Cave in Adams, TN and some much needed face time with two of my dearest friends. We arrived in the early evening after a pleasant drive through the never-ending space that is Kentucky and quickly changed clothes and got ready to go see my favorite (well I have two favorites) band, The Drive By Truckers. Whitney has a love for Jason Isbell and the 400 unit, and I don’t blame her, I like him too- but she hadn’t been properly introduced to the glory that is a Drive By Trucker show live and in person. Amber has heard a few songs here and there, but got the crash course as we listened to the Austin City limits cd on the ride down. Sadly, she liked 18 wheels of Love the most, which I had to admit to her is now retired and so she wouldn’t hear it in person. (Back when I did hear it and the entire story behind it, in an Indy show a year or so ago- I felt like I was a part of something special. I’m glad someone recorded it- because every time I hear that 12 minute performance I can’t help but cry.)
So we arrived at the Cannery Ballroom/Mercy Lounge. It occurred to me that it must be terribly confusing for the bands, all these places and venues look the same. There was the usual mix of Trucker fans: the hipster-bandanna-in-the-back-pocket-and-PBR-in-a-can-in-hand; the we-are-old-enough-to-be-Patterson’s-mom-and-dad groups; those who looked like they were there to get fucked up to whatever music was playin’; and one girl in a crisp white top with cute jeans and a smile that went from ear to ear. I was the latter. I could feel the electricity as the band took the stage (I must mention here, we did hear a few of Glossary’s songs- in fact I saw them open in that previously mentioned Indy show- but we didn’t see enough unfortunately for me to comment on their performance).
The Set List
I knew it wasn’t going to be a typical show when they opened with Feb 14th. I think several years removed now from that album I am beginning to appreciate it much more. Patterson came out full force and I could tell it would be a great crowd to be a part of that evening.
Those feelings were multiplied exponentially just moments later when I heard the first few guitar riffs of Women without Whiskey. I once wrote Whitney a list of 25 reasons why she should listen to the DBTs in the first place and it consisted of naming every Cooley song I could think of at the time.
When the next song began, I found myself searching my brain if I had heard it somewhere before, and I could not recall George Jones Talkin’ Cell Phone Blues. But it was a wonderful song and I was happy to be introduced to something unfamiliar and new, it was an unexpected and perfect gift. In true DBT fashion it dealt with brushes of death in twangy and harmonic pitches. If I remember correctly at the end of the performance of this one Patterson mentioned it would be out in the Fine Print collection due in September.
The crowd nearly lost it when they went into Carl Perkins Cadillac with “I’ve got friends in Nashville/At least they’re folks I know,” it would have been travesty for them not to play that one at the Ballroom that evening. But here is where the concert got funny. Some strange guy out of nowhere showed up and just started singing along with me as I sang along, commenting on the “perfect venue” for this song and despite the ring on my finger, he must have believed we were soul mates for one song- I found a way to dance and back up to where Amber and Whitney were holding our place directly under the fan so we could keep cool while fighting the Nashville humidity– and then he was gone (or so we thought for a while).
The Truckers switched gears (ha, no pun intended but it is so good I’m leaving it) into another rarity and oddity- The Great Car Dealer War- which was another unfamiliar and exciting piece to hear. They followed that and rolled the crowd back into things with Sinkhole, followed by Self Destructive Zones, and Hell No I ain’t Happy which were all just what I was looking for that night.
It was a pretty balanced night as far as performances went as they continued on with another Cooley led (Marry Me) followed by Shonna Tucker’s I’m Sorry Huston which would have been better if the people around me didn’t see this searingly beautiful and haunting slow song as an opportunity to talk about the weather or whatever they were jabbering about.
They kept things slow as they moved into The Opening Act to which I slow danced with others around me and I felt so completely happy to be with people, be it strangers even, who understood what it felt like to be connected to such rich music. Words really can’t express my happiness at that moment. Or the moment after, when like a dream come true, I heard the first few beautiful intro notes of Checkout Time in Vegas. I called Ricky, not for the fact to brag that while he worked on his new house, painting, flooring and whatnot that I was there with the Drive By Truckers in the same room, not that at all– but the opportunity to hear Cooley sing what is quite possibly one of the most magnificent songs ever written- I’d be cruel not to call in that moment.
But after I thought I had reached the climax of that show, Patterson started talking to the audience about a 90 year old friend (for some reason I immediately went to Pete Seeger) who had passed away- but then he used the words “she” so I knew it wasn’t Seeger after all who had died, and he mentioned a friend’s suicide and how it had been a rough few days and they went into A World of Hurt. Whitney was elated at this, because it was finally one song she knew very well, but I was taken a back because at that point in my listening of the Truckers discography, I had always passed over the album A Blessing and a Curse. It was only recently I had started going back to visit the few Cooley songs on there, but otherwise left it alone. But something happened in those five plus minutes of performance that changed me. Yes, truly changed me. In a song about it being great to be alive, reasonably uncharacteristic of the death and darkness of so many of their other songs, I realised in that moment, that chorus line, how absurd and ridiculous life is, and I didn’t care about any of the bullshit. I don’t care anymore about the letters behind my name, I don’t care about my name- that it won’t change ever and I won’t be doing things conventionally- I’m not in a band that gets to tour and play wonderful songs to great crowds every night, but I do ” think it can stand a reasonable chance,” and will “remember it ain’t too late to take a deep breath and throw myself into it with everything I got.” I really felt fully satisfied as they closed that one out, and then they went straight into A Ghost to Most, which was eerily fitting considering the mood I was in at that point- and I almost wonder if Cooley really sits around reading Waiting for Godot just for fun. The chorus of that one always makes me think of Ricky, because it mentions how skeleton’s don’t have anywhere to store their money, and it made makes me think of my own motto to go out and do what I want for fun because it is just money and you can’t take it with you- yet another life lesson from my best friend.
Shonna kept the crowd going following Neff’s awesome outro with her song Homefield Advantage which has always been a great addition to Brighter Than Creation’s Dark in my opinion. It was hyped up and even better with Jay Gonzalez on the organ.
The Truckers then introduced the audience to another new/old one Daddy Learned to Fly which I don’t believe is slated for any particular album, but I imagine given the Nashville crowd response they may include it soon enough on something.
They closed out the first portion of the show with a ten plus rendition of Lookout Mountain, before going into five song encore including: 3 Dimes Down, Buttholeville, Shut Up and Get on the Plane, Putting People on the Moon, and lastly and always a favorite of mine, People Who Died.
Following the show, I tried to say hello in person, to tell the band about how I used their song “That Man I Shot” in the Modern US History course I taught, and the best I could get was one of their grips/sound guys to pass along my message while he got poster signed for another fan. He returned after a few minutes with the poster and a “hello” from Patterson which I can only believe to be true because it is crushing to think it is not.
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I think back to when P and I first started dating, he had just been introduced to this band with a strange sounding name, the Drive By Whats?? One night in early March he was suppossed to come stay overnight after I finished my grueling (yeah right) undergraduate work and he was finished at this show of the DBTs at Southgate House. They played something like the better part of 4 hours and I thought I knew what he meant when describing that experience when we saw them together a few years later in Indy- but now I really know what it feels like. That show in Nashville made me want to just go on tour and follow them around. Really, I think I could do that and be happy, but just in case they decide to ever take a break from touring, I’ll be working on those annoying letters I want behind my name.
