Drive-By Truckers a late addition to Bluegrass – The Daily Planet

Another huge act for the upcoming Telluride Blues & Brews Festival was announced on Wednesday: the Southern-rock, alt-country Drive-By Truckers.

A prime slot for a well-known band became available in late March the day after the 2017 festival artists were first announced. Festival director Steve Gumble said the 13th-hour cancellation of a New Orleans band, the Revivalists, resulted in the search that led him to the Truckers, natives of Athens, Georgia.

The Truckers will be a great fit for Telluride, Gumble said Thursday. He noted that former Truckers band-mate Jason Isbell was a big draw to last years incarnation of Blues & Brews. Isbell, now a successful solo artist, was a vital member of the Truckers from 2001 to 2007. Their parting was described as amicable.

I put my nose to the grindstone, and looked around for what would be good and appropriate for Blues & Brews, and would resonate well with Telluride people and also was within my budget, Gumble said. I had several options but I had never before had the Truckers, and I knew that people would be stoked to see them at Blues & Brews.

It just felt right to fill that spot with those guys.

The festival will be held Sept. 15-17. Previously announced artists include Bonnie Raitt, Steve Winwood, TajMo: The Taj Mahal and Keb Mo Band, Anders Osborne, Tab Benoit, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Eric Lindell, Dwight Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers, Samantha Fish, and more.

Founded in 1996, the Drive-By Truckers werent the only additions announced on Wednesday. The Reverend Peytons Big Damn Band, John Nmeth & The Blue Dreamers, Hamish Anderson, Mitch Woods, Teresa James & The Rhythm Tramps, and Brian Keith Wallen also are newcomers to this years lineup.

The Truckers press materials describe them as outspoken, telling a distinct story via craft, character, and concept, all backed by sonic ambition and social conscience. Led by Paterson Hood and Mike Cooleys Americana-style vocals and roaring Southern-rock guitars, the band has gained a cult following throughout the South and world alike.

The bands 11th album, American Band, was released in September. It showcases a hard-edged and finely honed sound while making a explicitly political statement, according to a news release.

Touching on pressing issues such as race, income inequality, the NRA, deregulation, police brutality, Islamophobia, and the plague of suicides and opioid abuse, the album calls for community and collective action, the release said. Get ready for some righteous rebellion and a true southern rock n roll show, Telluride, the Drive-By Truckers are bringing the heat.

Fans of both Isbell and the Drive-By Truckers were quick to respond on a social-media page when the Daily Planet queried them Thursday about what might be the Truckers best album.

Ive always loved Go-Go Boots because its like a series of Southern Gothic short stories set to music, said one fan. Id have to say American Band is my current favorite because I love the Hell yeah, were pissed off feel of it.

Decoration Day, for sure whats not to like about it? another fan responded.

Southern Rock Opera, with Dirty South a close second, was another reply.

In a column written for The Watch newspaper in December, music columnist (and KOTO Community Radio development director) Geoff Hanson calls American Band his 2016 co-Album of the Year (tied with Sturgill Simpsons A Sailors Guide to Earth).

The Drive-By Truckers have made some of the best albums by any American rock band over the last 15 years, Hanson wrote. The de facto trilogy Southern Rock Opera (2001), Decoration Day (2003) and The Dirty South (2004) is a collective masterpiece that captures the rural South as well as any William Faulkner book, Tennessee Williams play or Lynyrd Skynyrd song.

It is the underbelly of Southern culture that the Drive-By Truckers capture so well. The characters in their songs live in rural pockets and are a motley crew of bootleggers, meth heads and strippers, the losers of class warfare with the self-loathing and alienation that comes with the territory.

Gumble added that every year he looks to put together an eclectic lineup. With Bonnie Raitt, Steve Winwood and now the Drive-By Truckers topping the bill for 2017s Blues & Brews, one could argue that the festival is not exactly a blues purists dream.

However, several other artists booked for the event fall into either traditional or contemporary blues genres.

There are so many festivals out there, and quite often their lineups start to look very similar, Gumble said in a prepared statement. I really enjoy combining iconic musicians with young and talented artists to create a festival bill that appeals to both younger generations and older ones.

Its for the whole family. Im honored to be able to continue to bring incredible music to one of the most beautiful venues in the world.

The daily schedule for Blues & Brews will be announced June 7. For more information about the festival or ticket prices, visit tellurideblues.com.

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Drive-By Truckers a late addition to Bluegrass - The Daily Planet