Drive-By Truckers

The Big To-Do (ATO)

The Drive-By Truckers sure are a prolific bunch. The Big To-Do is the Georgians’ 10th since arriving on the scene in 1998. There have been concept albums and more concept albums, and their last epic, 2008’s Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, sprawled for more than 75 minutes. The Big To-Do opens with four blasts of Crazy Horse-inspired howl before settling in to the meat of things, where the proceedings get a little weird. Patterson Hood’s Court TV-inspired “The Wig He Made Her Wear” mysteriously shuffles and creaks. Bassist Shonna Tucker offers a fragile piano ballad, “You Got Another,” that sounds like nothing the Truckers ever recorded before it. Then the crunchy “This Fucking Job” is arguably the strongest political statement the band’s ever made. The rest is more of what fans have come to expect: entertaining stories told with heart and Southern rock brawn. For them, each DBT release is a Big To-Do. (Thu., 10:30pm, Stubb’s.)

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This article appears in March 19 • 2010.

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