Description
Label Review.
2020 album. Country/Southern Rock. Also available on CD.
Our Overview.
‘The Unraveling’ is the acclaimed Georgia based alt-country outfit Drive-By Truckers’ 12th studio album and their first in more than three years - the longest gap between new Drive-By Truckers albums. ‘The Unraveling’ refers to the US collapse at the hands of the Trump Administration. The titles of the LP’s nine tracks, such as “Thoughts and Prayers”, “Babies in Cages”, and “Awaiting Resurrection”, further drive this theme home. The songs are among Drive-By Truckers’ most direct and pointedly provocative, tackling the myriad horrors of our new normal through sincere emotion and unbridled heart.
“The past three-and-a-half years were among the most tumultuous our country has ever seen,” co-founding member Patterson Hood remarked in a statement, “and the duality between the generally positive state of affairs within our band while watching so many things we care about being decimated and destroyed all around us informed the writing of this album to the core.” He continued:
“While a quick glance might imply that we’re picking up where 2016’s AMERICAN BAND album left off, the differences are as telling as the similarities. If the last one was a warning shot hinting at a coming storm, this one was written in the wreckage and aftermath. I’ve always said that all of our records are political but I’ve also said that ‘politics is personal’. With that in mind, this album is especially personal.”
Assisting Drive-By Truckers on the record are guests like The Shins’ Patti King, violinist/string arranger Kyleen King (Brandi Carlile), and North Mississippi All-Stars’ Cody Dickinson. It was recorded at the famed Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis by Grammy-winning engineer Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price) alongside longtime producer David Barbe.
Tracklisting: Rosemary with a Bible and a Gun / Armageddon’s Back in Town / Slow Ride Argument / Thoughts and Prayers / 21st Century USA / Heroin Again / Babies in Cages / Grievance Merchants / Awaiting Resurrection