Drive-By Truckers becoming 'Decorated' Band record

Sure, Drive-By Truckers is a silly name for a rock band. And sure, putting out a Southern rock record in 2003 is about as hip to some people as putting out a new polka record in 2003.\nConviction means something though , as does mastery of the form. Drive-By Truckers have both, and with their new album Decoration Day they continue to update a sound that supposedly died about 25 years ago.\nDecoration Day comes on the heels of the shockingly ambitious two-disc Southern Rock Opera. The album was both a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute and so much more. They reflected on southern identity and banged out a thick, three-guitar sound that evoked Neil Young. (To boot, the band hired longtime Young associate Spooner Oldham to guest on several tracks.) \nRock was their salvation, especially for lead singer Patterson Hood. An awkward guy with a slight lisp, he seemed to find God at a UFO concert in the late-'70s.\nBack with Decoration Day, the Truckers have moved from Southern manifesto to Southern-styled conflict filled with dread. Song titles include "Hell No, I Ain't Happy,""Your Daddy Hates Me" and "When the Pin Hits the Shell."\nThe guitars continue to duel roadhouse-style, probably sounding best in the sound system of an 18-wheeler. Produced by former Sugar bassist David Barbe, he doesn't fiddle with the Truckers' sound much. He just continues the stark, harrowing nature of the ballads and the marching on of the six-string onslaught.\nLyrically, the band presents despair. "Living fast and drinking lots/List of things we haven't got/Tired of life with the have-nots/That's what you said and I believe it," Hood sings in "(Something's Got to) Give Pretty Soon."\nLater on, though, in "Loaded Gun in the Closet," band co-leader Mike Cooley urges that using a gun is not the way out of a dysfunctional marriage and that a little self-pride can get one out of desolate boredom.\nIn the Drive-By Truckers world, that isn't easy. Your pride can get easily nicked up. The cure, though, is a good little melody.