Drive-By Truckers are Patterson Hood, Brad Morgan, Shonna Tucker, Mike Cooley and Jason Isbell, all hailing from the deep south of the United States. Equal parts back porch historians, runaway drunken firecrackers, and poets of the hard life and how to live it; they came on the scene and set the bar higher for what can be done with music. The characters in their songs have left gals at the altar, wrecked their cars, woken up on the cold floor and even killed themselves a number of times over the years, breathing some new intelligent life, not just into rock music but, into rockers everywhere.

Their three front men/guitarists/songwriters form a fiery combination that might crumble a lesser band. Hood explains, “We are all very close, in a family kind of way, albeit a sometimes dysfunctional one. We fight, sometimes very hard, but couldn't continue with such strong opinions and personalities without a huge degree of mutual respect for each other personally and artistically.” In a live setting, that respect has been described as taking the shape of, “intricate, driving interlocking hard guitar rock, nimble as a ballet dancer with too much Jack Daniels in her, and with the emotional impact of Walker Percy slamming into you with an out of control stock car.”

To date, Drive By Truckers have released eight full-length studio albums to date, their most recent release being 2008’s ‘Brighter Than Creation’s Dark’. The album is named after a line from one of their songs written by Cooley titled ‘Checkout Time In Vegas’. The album was produced by David Barbe and features a more stripped down country based sound, which has not been seen in their music since their sophomore release ‘Pizza Deliverance’. It truly is a stunning piece of work, with remarkably beautiful story telling, Drive By Truckers produce their own unique brand of rock and roll.

See Drive By Truckers perform live at Manchester Academy 2 on Friday 8th August.