Decoration Day : Drive-By Truckers : Review : Rolling Stone

In the course of three excellent studio albums, Alabama's Drive-By Truckers have updated Lynyrd Skynyrd's legacy for a new generation of Southerners; the band's songs are for lovable fuck-ups who get fired from shitty jobs, then drink an entire bottle of Jack Daniel's and puke in their girlfriend's bushes. The leaner, softer Decoration Day finds the Truckers ditching the three-guitar rave-ups and concept-album narratives of 2001's Southern Rock Opera in favor of tuneful evocations of the darker side of Southern life. With fellow songwriters Mike Cooley and Jason Isbell chipping in more than ever, the gruff-voiced Patterson Hood sings songs that could alternately rock a barroom or bring a tear to your eye at 3 a.m. "I know your daddy hates me," Hood sings. "I'd probably hate me, too." His whiskey-soaked self-pity still makes for the best new-school Southern rock you can buy.

CHRISTIAN HOARD
(RS 925, June 26, 2003)