With 2006’s A Blessing And A Curse, the Drive-By Truckers—perhaps one of the most respected bands to emerge from the American Southeast—had hit a wall. The songs didn’t quite live up to the expectations set by nearly a decade’s worth of focused detail and complex half-truths. But this was nothing time off from the road and a personnel shift couldn’t fix. Gone is songwriter/guitarist Jason Isbell, and in his place is founding member and guitarist John Neff. Bassist Shonna Tucker brings in her first three songs, and Muscle Shoals legend Spooner Oldham, who’s been touring with the band of late, drops electric-piano lines that are more felt than heard. Suspended over Brighter Than Creation’s Dark is the steely insight of mainstays Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood. “Two Daughters And A Beautiful Wife” suggests hope through tragedy over banjo and acoustic guitar. Cooley’s small-town character sketch “Bob” has the playfulness of Tom T. Hall mingling with the Truckers’ own awareness. The problems come with the rockers, some of which seem to have the punch knocked out of them. Tucker’s “Home Field Advantage” sounds like modern-day FM-radio country, while Hood’s “The Man I Shot” wants to explode but gets straitjacketed in the studio. Yet Brighter Than Creation’s Dark is the work of a prolific, well-traveled bunch. That they’ve played themselves out of a tight corner is an impressive feat in and of itself. [www.newwestrecords.com]
—Bruce Miller
