by Jane Roser

Portland, Oregon based country/folk band, Blitzen Trapper, opened the Drive-By Truckers show at the 9:30 Club on Saturday and Sunday, double-fisting it at one of the best rock venues in the country. Consisting of Eric Earley on guitars, vocals and keyboard, Erik Menteer on guitars and keyboard, Brian Koch on drums, Michael Van Pelt on bass and Marty Marquis on guitar and keyboard, the band members are talented multi-instrumentalists and put on a energetic, lively show. Most of the audience obviously arrived early to catch their set and were not only familiar with their tunes, but screamed in excitement when the first riffs were played.

Promoting their latest release, VII, the band played several tracks off this album to the fist pumps of their fans before launching into a cover of the 1973 Joe Walsh song “Rocky Mountain Way”. Joe Walsh is mentioned again Sunday night after Drive-By Trucker Mike Cooley sings a Patterson Hood song (“Til He’s Dead Or Rises”, the first time a Trucker has sung another Trucker’s song) and commented, “thank you. That was a Joe Walsh tune.”

The Drive-By Truckers walked on stage to shouts of “DBT!” and took their places in front of a backdrop of the cover from their current album, English Oceans, created by the band’s long-time artist Wes Freed. The audience consisted of about one half die-hard Truckers fans and the other half who hadn’t listened to them in awhile, but loved the new album so much, they helped to sell out the night’s show.

A few people I met in the crowd didn’t hesitate to explain why they’re a fan. Joe B. said, ” they make songs about all the glorious mistakes I’ve made.” and Rob told me, “the new album brings back some of the Southern roots from their previous album. A lot of us in DC are Southern transplants and we can get a little piece of home with a live show.”

Cooley blasts off with a hit off the new album called “Shit Shots Count”, which the audience has been yelling for before the show even began, so they must be psychic. Keyboardist/guitarist Jay Gonzalez tickles those ivories like it was a great ball of fire and bassist Mike Patton is refreshingly fun to watch; he smiles constantly, flips and shakes his hair, then gets lost in the music to the point that I started considering taking bass lessons the next day.

Hood once told me that they don’t make a set list, they just “decide the opening song as we’re about to go up to play and then it gets winged from there. We have all kinds of elaborate cues and signals to give each other so we know what’s coming next. It usually works and keeps it fresh and exciting for us, which I think translates to a more fun evening for the fans.”

Fan favorite “Ronnie And Neil” off one of the band’s older albums, Southern Rock Opera, is played next and the crowd sings along to that “Muscle Shoals sound”. There’s a lot of jumping and dancing and since it’s a sold out show, there is absolutely no room for even a puffer coat, let alone a get-down-make-love dance move. But, no one cares and everyone is having a great time, including the band, who are feeding off the crowd’s energy and loving the ride, which translates into a kick ass live show that lasts for three hours (which is typical for a DBT show) and ends with eight encores.

After Cooley sings “Self-Destructive Zones” from their Brighter Than Creation’s Dark album, Hood tells everyone that it’s his birthday week and that “Cooley’s been saying he’s gonna kill me on my 50th birthday (when they are playing a show in Indianapolis), but I’m not gonna die in a red state. Fuck that!” So Hood celebrated his 50th birthday with the cast and crew at the 9:30 Club. On Sunday during the encore, he was presented with a cake, hugs from the other Truckers, a 17 year old bottle of scotch and everyone, I mean everyone, sang “Happy Birthday”. If the South ever rises again, it’ll be here for sure.

Watching Cooley wail on his electric guitar is what I imagine watching Jimmy Page was like for Led Zeppelin fans 40 years ago. I noticed that a lot of the same faces were in the crowd Sunday night, as well as Saturday, which says a lot about the dedication of their fans.

Cooley sang “Hearing Jimmy Loud” off the new album and then Hood gave us a rare treat by performing “Steve McQueen” from their Alabama Ass Whuppin‘ reissue. I had never heard this song live, so I was pretty darn excited. Hood stopped in the middle of the song and had the 9:30 Club bring up the house lights so they could check on a woman who had passed out near the stage. Ever the class act, Hood waited until someone had come out to check on her and asked “are you ok, m’am?” After she was determined to be fine, Hood picked up where he left off, saying, “on my birthday weekend, let’s sing this one up to heaven for my granddaddy and down there to wherever they put Steve McQueen.” Hood told me in our last interview that he “wrote that song as a tribute to my granddad who was a huge Steve McQueen fan and who also died of mesothelioma. He was a bad ass, like a McQueen character (although much nicer).” Hood also confirmed to the audience that he really did have his driver’s license taken away when he was “just 16.”

Hood and Cooley took turns singing and continued the night playing tunes off English Oceans including “Hanging On”, “Pauline Hawkins”, “The Part Of Him” and “Primer Coat.” When Cooley started playing the opening riff for “Sinkhole” off their critically acclaimed 2003 album Decoration Day, the audience went into an excited frenzy and when Hood put his palm out in the air for the lyrics, “house has stood through five tornadoes,” the audience followed suit.

I love the cheeky song Hood sings about the time his “mama ran off with a trucker.” “18 Wheels Up” is off Alabama Ass Whoppin‘ and tells the story of how his mom went to work for a trucking firm. It was her job to make sure the truckers all got enough rest. One of her charges, a 350 pound man named Chester, fell in love with her and they got married in Dollywood. “I couldn’t make this shit up,” says Hood.

“Puttin’ People On The Moon” ended the set until the Truckers came back on for one of their famously long encores. The woman next to me was shouting, “we want it! We really want it!” Cooley started off with “Love Like This”, then Hood sang what’s kind of become a DBT anthem, “Hell, No I Ain’t Happy.” The audience always, always sings along to the chorus and pump their arms in their air for this tune. It’s fun to watch Cooley and Hood jam out together on this song and have so much fun with it. Never fails to lift up the room, especially with Hood jumping across the stage without missing a beat on his guitar.

“3 Dimes Down” began and people rushed from the bar to make it to the dance floor in time to hear how “rock and roll never forgets.” “Guitar Man Upstairs”, “Lookout Mountain” and “Zip City” followed. Hood changed the lyrics a bit on “Dead Drunk and Naked” to “if my daddy was here, he sure would be proud. The 9:30’s a sold out crowd! You mother fuckers rock!”

“Grand Canyon” was a touching finale to the evening, paying tribute to the band’s long-time friend Craig Lieske who passed away last year and the audience raised their drinks in tribute. The show’s ending was lovely and a fabulous send off, with each Trucker taking off their guitar, waving and exiting the stage, one at a time, while still playing their set, until just drummer Brad Morgan was left. He finished, waved to the audience and sauntered off like a cowboy into the sunset.

Drive-By Truckers shows are like an epic novel, they tell a rocking, sweeping story and remind us all that “it’s fucking great to be alive.” It may be long, but it’s never dull and once it’s over, you can’t wait to read the sequel.