Hood is one of the major forces behind Athens, Georgia's Drive-By Truckers .I must make a personal declaration in that no modern band of the past eight years has impacted me more than the Truckers. Despite the grim name, their music is deep. From 2002 to 2006, when the band featured the singer/songwriter/guitarist triad of Hood, Mike Cooley, and Jason Isbell, no other band could touch them in the world of raw roots rock/alt country/whatever, period! Lineup changes and a couple of uneven records has made my interest wane just a hair in recent years, yet I always root for them and anticipate new material. DBT are seasoned road warriors and, to this day, still capable of decimating live venues across the world Hood dubbed the musicians on this record the Downtown Rumblers which, at it's core, is just four of the other five Truckers, with the fifth one still showing up to play banjo on two tracks. Yet, a whole host of other musicians float in and out of the sessions; CentroMatic's Will Johnson; a phenomenal fiddle player, Scott Danborn; Hood's father, David, a veteran of classic Muscle Shoals sessions, sits in on bass for two songs.
The album opens ominously with "12:01" as Hood ruminates on the end of a relationship torn apart by all-night drinking and jamming with "these friends of mine-a bunch of lost cases just marking time". This is perhaps a time in Hood's youth, before DBT's conception, when he was first seduced by the mistress of music to the detriment of any women in his life. In the second track, "Leaving Time", and the last track, "Fifteen Days(Leaving Time Again)", he addresses sort-of that same issue, but in the present. Hood, now a husband and father, must leave for yet another tour, in spite of his family's dismay.
. Then it gets moody. "(untold pretties)", is a spoken word piece set to music, an excerpt from Hood's unpublished novel, Slam Dancing in the Pews. It feels like a random page. I can't get a complete hold on what the song is actually about, Memories of a high-school sweetheart melt into memories of his grandfather's funeral. But it doesn't really matter. Sometimes, Hood's brilliance is in the images he creates-"the sky was as grey as an open chord and as plaintive as fog in black and white"-and those curious little details-"where that lady from the Sunbeam bread wrapper was killed head-on back when I was little". I can get lost in this, and I can't wait until he finishes his novel..
"Come Back Little Star" is another highlight, a song co-written by Kelly Hogan and dedicated to the late singer/songwriter, Vic Chesnutt, who took his own life in 2009. The back-up vocals from Hogan are a definite plus, but it's that d-tuned, lumbering guitar riff toward the end that sends it to the stars for me.
The title track is the cornerstone. I love this: "the old oak's gone and the house is falling down, But the ghosts are a comfort to me, Ghosts of my family and time that's moved on, The changing of the old guard to new, Standing here in the days final light, Strong beside you". This is good too: "the night slowly creeps by as I hold myself together, Somewhere between anguish and acceptance". Those lines speak for themselves. Nuff said.
Hood has never written songs this personal for the Truckers, at least not this many on one album. Yet, he doesn't spell it all out, and I think that's an advantage. There is some lighter fare as well. Still, Heat Lightning is haunted by the past (lovers, dead friends, innocence) but there's an uneasy reconciliation and eventual movement towards contentment. These days, it seems like every serious artist has to make a "dark" record to gain credibility. But I wouldn't say Heat Lightning dwells in darkness.On it's own terms, it shows you the way out. ****
(Catch Patterson Hood with the Drive-By Truckers Oct. 21st at the Bluebird in Bloomington.)
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