A sniff of the new DBT

How do you know you're pumped for an album to be released? One indication might be listening repeatedly to the 30 second samples of the songs that are available on Amazon.com. That's what I've been doing for the last few minutes as I stumbled across previews for the new Drive By Truckers record, Brighter Than Creation's Dark, due out on January 28th. I am fucking stoked with what I've heard. Alot of these songs seem to have a more relaxed vibe (think Heathens or My Sweet Annette) to them rather than the balls to the wall rock that we are accustom to with DBT. I like it, I gotta say! Anyway, I won't gush anymore over an album I've only heard clips of, but this album will easily be my most anticipated album for early 2008. Of course, if you are impatient, head to the Live Archive and search for DBT shows -- they previewed many of these songs on the Dirt Underneath Tour last summer.

You can take a listen yourself over here.

P.S. Cooley is prominent and is awesome. Thirty second clips are enough to tell me that!

BK

DBT News

This guy thinks Wife Beater is romantic

DBT is back ya'll with the release of their newest album, Brighter Than Creation's Dark, on January 22, 2008. We're talking 19 songs yo, 7 of which are Cooley songs and a couple by Shonna as well. In fact, you can read Patterson's thoughts on the album here. It will be a nice way to ring in the new year.

During The Dirt Underneath Tour, piano player Spooner Oldham sat in with the band. He is a legend of the Muscle Shoals music scene, having worked with practically any legend you can come up with. Near the end of the tour, DBT covered one of his songs I'm Your Puppet, a song made famous in the 1960s and covered by practically everybody. Kelly Hogan helps out with vocals and, as she says, this is about the only chance you'll ever get to make out at a Drive-By Truckers show. That is, unless you and your girl find it romantic to talk about beating each other and drinkin' whiskey.

Anyway, lots of the new DBT songs were road tested during the Dirt Underneath Tour, so you can dig through the Live Archive if you feel inclined. In my never ending quest to nurture my patience, I am planning to wait till the record hits stores. Maybe.

DBT -- I'm Your Puppet


BK

Working man music!

A miner enjoying a tall cold one after a hard day of work.

This week's Six Pack will pay homage to the working man. At KGB, with our obvious ties to everything communism (well, not really), the working man holds a special place in our hearts. It's only a matter of time before the proletariat rises up and crushes the capitalists. You'll see, any day now, those two dudes, ya know Marx and Engels, will be vindicated. Until their mighty revolution occurs (any day now I predict), here is some good music to pass the time.

The Grateful Dead -- Cumberland Blues from June 7, 1970 :: Taken from the Live Archive's Dead section, you have to include a song from Workingman's Dead.
[Buy Workingman's Dead here]

Dwight Yoakam -- Miner's Prayer from Dwight's Used Records :: Let's stick with miners and the hard work they do. Dwight is from eastern Kentucky, he knows about what he sings.
[Buy Dwight's Used Records here]

REM -- Finest Worksong from The Best of the IRS Years :: Not overtly about blue collar working, but I like the song and it somewhat relates thus, it stays.
[Buy IRS here]

Drag The River -- Tired & Fired from It's Crazy :: Hard work makes you tired and without your best woman, it's a kick in the nuts, that's for sure. Drag The River says so in the country stylings I love.
[Buy It's Crazy here]

The Drive-By Truckers -- Puttin' People On The Moon from The Dirty South :: The last two are more political tunes. In the first, Patterson Hood sounds off on the hardships of a small town factory worker, the turn he takes to support his family, and the absurdity of it all in light of the bundles of money being spent on NASA rockets.
[Buy The Dirty South here]

Lucinda Williams -- American Dreams from Live At The Fillmore :: Lucinda's story of a factory man and the difficulties he's had reaching the American dream.
[Buy Live At The Fillmore here]


Enjoy your day off. Watch out for commies.

BK

Porter Wagoner look a like.....

From Somalia to Missouri, we have comrades worldwide. Tonight, I present to you Porter Wagoner, a country legend and member of the Grand Ole Opry. Porter just turned 80 so what's he do?

That is one SWEET jacket!

He releases an album that might be the best country album of the year. Teaming with Marty Stuart, Porter plays your momma's and poppy's country music. Take a listen to the following from his newest, Wagonmaster, and relish that some country music does indeed still come from Nashville.

Porter Wagoner -- Many Hurried Southern Trips
[Buy Porter here]

Finally, here's a nod to the man himself from one of my favorites, The Drive-By Truckers. Check out this live track from an October 2006 show in Bloomington.

Drive-By Truckers -- 18 Wheels of Love (complete with Patterson's mom story)
[Buy DBT here]

BK

DBT - The Dirt Underneath

This weekend, The Drive-By Truckers kicked off their Dirt Underneath Tour in their homebase of Athens, Georgia. A stripped down affair, the intent for these shows was to play some oldies, play some new ones, and do a few new things with the old ones. Those of you used to the headbanging, rock and roll side of the Truckers will be in for a nice little surprise. I love the hard rocking Truckers as much as anyone, but this acoustic heavy stuff sounds good, with heavy doses of John Neff pushing the steel and Spooner Oldham, a man who has played with some guys named Dylan and Young (maybe you've heard of them), gracing the keys. Below are a couple of songs from the Friday night gig:

DBT - My Sweet Annette
The first DBT song that blew me away many years ago, this features Cooley on the banjo. Yowza!

DBT - Bob
A new Cooley song from what I understand. Dude continues to write great stuff and I'm looking forward to hearing more and more of him over the next few records.

[Buy DBT here and here]

Thanks to all the tapers who 1) do a great job with the recordings and 2) bust their asses to get this stuff out to the masses. Check out http://bt.etree.org to get your hands on the recordings!


If you get the chance (wish I did), check out the Truckers at a venue near you.

Tue May 1 - Austin, TX - Antone's

Wed May 2 - Austin, TX - Antone's

Fri May 4 - Santa Fe, NM - Lensic PAC with Alejandro Escovedo

Sat May 5 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre with Alejandro Escovedo - ROCK SHOW (Not part of The Dirt Underneath)

Sunday May 6 - Indio, CA - Stagecoach Festival - ROCK SHOW (Not part of The Dirt Underneath)

Mon May 7 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall

Tue May 8 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall

Thu May 10 - Park City, UT - Suede

Fri May 11 - Aspen, CO - Belly Up Aspen

Sat May 12 - Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre & Cafe

Sun May 13 - Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre & Cafe

Thu June 21 - Knoxville, TN - Sundown in the City

Fri June 22 - Richmond, VA - Brown's Island

Sat Jun 23 - Myrtle Beach, SC - House Of Blues

Sun June 24 - Athens, GA - ATHFEST

Fri July 6 - Quincy, CA - High Sierra Music Festival

Sat Jul 14 - Masontown, WV - All Good Music Festival - ROCK SHOW (Not part of The Dirt Underneath)

Thu Jul 19 - New York, NY - Castle Clinton National Monument, Battery Park - ROCK SHOW (Not part of The Dirt Underneath)

BK

Crazy times....

Wooo...crazy times for me in this last week. I haven't spent much time with my headphones on, as work has been insane and I am continually enthralled by the Billy Donovon to UK chatter. However, I did come across this tidbit that I wanted to share. As some of you know, the Drive-By Truckers are my favorite band out there these days. They're about to hit the road for a medium run of shows, including a short batch billed as "The Dirt Underneath". Known for ringing electric guitars, DBT will leave them at home for these shows, focusing instead on a stripped down approach. The following video is a preview of these shows and was filmed at Grimey's New and Pre-Loved Music, a Nashville staple.



Enjoy!

BK