Long Live Southern Rock!

Last night, Ryan and I took the bus downtown to go to a Drive By Truckers show. Seattle has many great venues to watch live music, but the Show Box is one of my favorites. The Show Box is directly across the street from Pike Place Market, a fixture of Seattle history and an often-visited tourist attraction. The Show Box is also one of the few places to watch music that has seating -- although the seating is very limited and I've never arrived to a show early enough to snag a coveted chair.

Perhaps the best part of watching live music at the Show Box is the sound. I've never been disappointed with the acoustic experience at the Box, but I have had ringing ears days after a show. That's why Ryan and I brought earplugs to last night's concert. Yep, we are that old, but we figure we've done enough damage to our hearing through the years and we might as well try and save what we've got left. Just for the record, we didn't feel like we were missing anything during the live show but we were happy to hear when it was over.

For those who don't know about the Drive By Truckers, the band is originally from Alabama and currently resides in Athens, Georgia. Athens is a music haven with many famous bands either coming from or taking up residence in the town. REM, the B-52s, the Indigo Girls, Neutral Milk Hotel, and many others have strong ties to Athens.

The Drive By Truckers have been around for a long time. DBT's older albums had a more humorous, self-deprecating tone. For example, one of my favorite albums, Alabama Ass Whuppin, has a great song called 18 Wheels of Love, which is a true story of love and a trucker named Chester. The DBTs then released Southern Rock Opera, a fabulous two-disc album that chronicles the story of a young man who forms a southern rock band and ultimately dies in a plain crash, like his idols Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Later DBT albums are more serious and more political. The band squarely faces the issues of drug abuse, the exploitation of the working class, Alabama's segregation history, and many others tough social problems. Last night's show was a nice mix of serious and silly. The band passed around a bottle of whiskey and even let a roadie play guitar and sing with the band during the encore. It was a fun show. If you like southern rock and have a chance to see the Drive By Truckers, check them out. Be prepared for a show that mixes mellow ballads with good ol' fashioned rock and roll.