Drive-By Truckers
Brighter Than Creation's Dark
New West Records

DBT is the kind of band that might, traditionally, record 2-3 really good albums and then dry out slowly, not being able to create much fresh. Well, they're not that type of band. I find myself kind of startled and eager a bit into the first few songs (yes, they tend to include quite a lot of songs) on every album. Same thing on this one.

After their fine guitarist/writer/singer Jason Isbell left the band about a year ago, I must admit that one of the first things on my mind was "damn, he really wrote the best songs". It might be that it only made the remainders - truth be told, they are the original members - raise the stakes.

Without speculating further, it might also be that the departure of Isbell made a writer out of Shonna Tucker. And this absolutely doesn't feel like a trick to compensate. She does write good, moving and telling tunes here.

It's usually plain stupid trying to compare a band's records to each other, and will do none such here. I'll just happily state that Brighter Than Creation's Dark is no lesser of a record than previous highs such as The Dirty South and Southern Rock Opera.

Yes, long live rock and roll!

Copyright © 2008 Anders Svendsen