The open-faced honesty of long-running Southern roots rockers Drive-By Truckers has always been one of their most endearing traits, as head honchos Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley spin tales of bitter breakups, toxic ennui, and the night they saw GG Allin. The band’s new record, American Band , is the group’s most outright political effort, touching on homespun tragedies close to their hearts, including massacres in South Carolina and a condemnation of the history of the NRA. On the Cooley-penned lead single “Surrender Under Protest,” the band sounds off on the fight to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse. As much as the track’s a victory lap, the crashing guitars also make it feel like a rallying cry at the beginning of a bigger struggle.
The Fat Angel Sings 