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Listening to The Big To-Do, the tenth and latest album by Drive-By Truckers (DBT), invoked two very strong feelings.  The first was that I wanted to hate this music with every bone in my body, although I really can’t.  The second was the urge to buy a truck, pick up a guitar, and drink lots of Jack Daniels, although not necessarily in that order.   

With their latest effort, DBT bring another dose of inspired and equally whimsical story-telling, mixed with a call to revelry that is a staple of their music. Started back in 1996 by Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood, the Athens, Georgia, based band has cycled through many a band mate, but perhaps have found their best arrangement yet.  With a recognizable affection for good times still seeping from their music, the Truckers don’t fail to entertain with these 13 tracks.   

The first song on the album, “Daddy Learned To Fly” is a great rendition that reflects where the band has been the past couple of years.  Since their first record Gangstabilly dropped in 1998, the band as a personal unit has changed, welcoming new members to the circus, including sons and daughters.  Hood sings “Daddy’s gone away and no one can tell me why / Mama’s been so sad since daddy learned to fly / Everybody brought food and everybody cried / Nothing’s been too good since daddy learned to fly.”   

This track and others like “On The Fourth Night Of My Drinking” and “Drag The Lake Charlie” are able to show off the “Three Axe Attack,” although rather than boasting three guitars and having bass and drums, the Truckers are also equipped with the keys now, thanks to Jay Gonzalez who joined the band in 2008.   

 “The Whig He Made Her Wear” is a nasty little song, in which Hood sings, “It was right before Easter in the first week of spring / He didn’t show up for service that Wednesday night / The congregation knew something weren’t right / But on the bed, when they opened the door / The preacher was dead on the bedroom floor.”  The story recounts how the preacher had abused and degraded his wife and how she eventually shot him.  But what I find even creepier than this made-for-Lifetime story is the drum presence on this track and the main guitar playing an eerie two-step strut.   

Cooley adds his voice as the main character in songs like “Get Downtown” and “Birthday Boy,” which actually didn’t make its way onto the album until after the other 12 songs were chosen and he decided to write it.  His vocals add an unparalleled depth to the songs, and it’s clear that a taste of Alabama hangs on each line he sings before its swept up by the notes.   

Shonna Tucker, the band’s bassist, really shines on this album, adding in lead vocals on “(It’s Gonna Be) / I Told You So” and “You Got Another,” which is a keys-based song, and a nice change up to the general musical aesthetic of the album.  Tucker’s singing pays a nice compliment to the band’s versatility, and I think it adds in another dimension to the stories they’re trying to tell.   

What I find most refreshing about The Big To-Do is that its Southern twang detours towards Rock ‘n Roll versus moseying down the road to the often-times lazy sound of most country-based music.  The Truckers hand-spin tales that carry an authenticity and they play with the musical prowess to do them right.  In a video of DBT’s “Birthday Boy,” Hood states, “I think the band we have right now is kind of the culmination of all the years of playing in bands.  It’s kind of like we found our perfect little thing right now.”  I couldn’t agree more.