Here’s is the 11th album from Drive-By Truckers, a Alabama-bred, Georgia-based band. Founded by Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood in 1996, the band takes a strong stance on political issues of the moment. Take “Surrender Under Protest,” for example, on which the band sides w/ the civil rights activists’ successful push to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Statehouse (Patterson Hood has written a moving, poignant piece for the New York Times regarding the matter). Although the Truckers have always been about redefining and painting a more accurate, historically-informed picture of the South, the single was met with some opposition from the band’s fanbase. Cooley and Hood are unfazed, however, and for the rest of the album, they keep speaking their minds on “matters that matter,” such as “societal disintegration, urban/rural divide,” and anger/discontent that surrounds the issues. Other highlights of the album include “Ramon Casiano,” Darkened Flags On the Cusp of Dawn,” “What It Means,” and “Guns of Umpqua,” which takes a hard look at the tragic Oregon shooting.

• red marbled vinyl
• includes 7" of "Kinky Hypocrite"
• limited to 5,000 copies
• music label: ATO Records 2016

reviewed by donut savage 10/2016