DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS OFFER’THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS’ WITH NEW SINGLE
WATCH LYRIC VIDEO HERE AND STREAM IT HERE
POWERHOUSE TRACK HERALDS INCENDIARY NEW ALBUM, ‘THE UNRAVELING’
‘THE UNRAVELING’ OUT 31ST JANUARY VIA ATO RECORDS
UK SHOWS JUNE
Drive-By Truckers have unveiled the latest single from their much-anticipated new album, ‘The Unraveling’. ‘Thoughts and Prayers’ is available for streaming and download now. The powerhouse track is joined by an official lyric video streaming now. THE UNRAVELING arrives via ATO Records on Friday 31st January; digital and physical pre-orders are now available.
‘The Unraveling’ was first heralded late last year by the bracing first single, ‘Armageddon’s Coming To Town’. The track is joined by an official lyric video streaming now. ‘Armageddon’s Coming To Town’ was met by critical applause upon its November 2019 premiere, with Rolling Stone writing, “Drive-By Truckers stare down the end of the world on their new song,” noting that the “ramshackle rocker…finds co-frontman Patterson Hood grappling with a deluge of confusion, dismay, uncertainty and guilt as he sings, ‘There’ll be no healing from the art of double-dealing/Armageddon’s back in town again.’” Stereogum hailed ‘Armageddon’s Back In Town’ as “a revved-up, world-weary rocker about dealing with the day-to-day hassles of travelling the United States while feeling like things are at a breaking point,” adding, “If 2016’s ‘American Band’ focused on the declining state of the country, then ‘The Unraveling’ looks to get even deeper into an even more fucked-up state of affairs.”
WATCH ‘ARMAGEDDON’S COMING TO TOWN’ LYRIC VIDEO HERE
Drive-By Truckers’ 12th studio album and first new LP in more than three years – the longest-ever gap between new DBT albums – THE UNRAVELING was recorded at the legendary Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis, TN by GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price) and longtime DBT producer David Barbe. Co-founding singer/songwriter/guitarists Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood both spent much of the time prior doing battle with deep pools of writer’s block. “How do you put these day to day things we’re all living through into the form of a song that we (much less anybody else) would ever want to listen to?” says Hood. “How do you write about the daily absurdities when you can’t even wrap your head around them in the first place? I think our response was to focus at the core emotional level. More heart and less cerebral perhaps.”
The songs that eventually emerged are among Drive-By Truckers’ most direct and pointedly provocative, tackling the myriad horrors of our new normal through sincere emotion and unbridled heart. Indeed, “Armageddon’s Back in Town” takes a whirlwind joyride through the whiplash of events we collectively deal with each day while the concluding “Awaiting Resurrection” dives headfirst into the despair and pain roiled up by these troubled times.
“The past three-and-a-half years were among the most tumultuous our country has ever seen,” says Hood, “and the duality between the generally positive state of affairs within our band while watching so many things we care about being decimated and destroyed all around us informed the writing of this album to the core.
“While a quick glance might imply that we’re picking up where 2016’s ‘American Band’ album left off, the differences are as telling as the similarities. If the last one was a warning shot hinting at a coming storm, this one was written in the wreckage and aftermath. I’ve always said that all of our records are political but I’ve also said that ‘politics is personal’. With that in mind, this album is especially personal.”
The remarkable songcraft found on ‘The Unraveling’ receives much of its musical muscle from the sheer strength of the current Drive-By Truckers line-up, with Hood and Cooley joined by bassist Matt Patton, keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Jay Gonzalez, and drummer Brad Morgan – together, the longest-lasting iteration in the band’s almost 25-year history. The LP also features a number of special guests, including The Shins’ Patti King, violinist/string arranger Kyleen King (Brandi Carlile), and North Mississippi All-Stars’ Cody Dickinson, who contributes electric washboard to the strikingly direct “Babies In Cages.”
Hailed by Stereogum as “perhaps the greatest extant American rock and roll band,” Drive-By Truckers will mark ‘The Unraveling’ with an epic world tour, getting underway this week and then continuing through late June. The tour includes to UK dates in June, including a headline show at London’s 02 Forum. For updates and ticket information, please visit the official Drive-By Truckers tour page.
TRACKLISTING
Rosemary With A Bible and A Gun
Armageddon’s Back In Town
Slow Ride
Argument
Thoughts and Prayers
21st Century USA
Heroin Again
Babies In Cages
Grievance Merchants
Awaiting Resurrection
DRIVE–BY TRUCKERS ON TOUR 2020
FEBRUARY
13 – Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club
14 – Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club
15 – Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club
18 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
19 – Charlottesville, VA – Jefferson Theater
21 – Webster Hall – New York, NY
22 – Boston, MA – Somerville Theatre
23 – Portland, ME – State Theatre
25 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall
27 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
28 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
29 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
MARCH
20 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
21 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
22 – Arcata, CA – Van Duzer Theatre
24 – Petaluma, CA – Mystic Theatre
26 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
27 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent Theater
28 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
31 – Albuquerque, NM – El Rey Theater
APRIL
2 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
3 – Austin, TX – Scoot Inn
4 – Austin, TX – Scoot Inn
16 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel
17 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel
18 – Charleston, NC – High Water Festival *
21 – Winston-Salem, NC – The Ramkat
23 – Lexington, KY – Manchester Music Hall
24 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
25 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
27 – Pensacola, FL – Vinyl Music Hall
28 – Orlando, FL – The Plaza Live
29 – Ponte Vedra Beach, FL – Ponte Vedra Concert Hall
MAY
1 – Birmingham, AL – Iron City
2 – Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees *
JUNE
1 – Raalte, NL – Ribs and Blues
3 – Dublin, IE – Vicar Street
5 – Leeds, UK – Irish Centre
6 – London, UK – O2 Forum
7 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso
8 – Antwerp, BE – De Roma
9 – Köln, DE – Kantine
11 – Berlin, DE – Kesselhaus
12 – Copenhagen, DK – Amager Bio
13 – Stockholm, SW – Sthlm Americana *
14 – Oslo, NO – Rockefeller
15 – Aarhus, DK – Train
19 – Azkena, ES – Azkena Rock Festival *
* FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE
PRE-ORDER ALBUM HERE
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