I feel like sometimes bands who live and die by the southern rock or ::gasp:: country moniker are unfairly thrown into a similar, uncouth category that many associated with unsavory music that wouldn't or shouldn't appeal to people who live in cities.
But hello folks, they have cities in the South too. And folks out West like country just as much as the next person, as do people in cities in the northeast and pretty much everywhere else. It's got a following or else, it'd die like everything else. Or be confined to some small square space in retroville. Alas, the Drive-By Truckers are not destined to be relegated to the bargain bin of bands past. This is just good music no matter how you try to pigeonhole it. The band thrives on its featuring of two different singers on tracks, one male and one female. No better place is this adeptness exhibited than on the track I'm Sorry Huston.
The LP is nineteen tracks of pure alt-country goodness. It's slow-cooked, it's marinated right and seriously has just the feel of what happens when a confluence of really good events come together at the right time. Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife is the opening track and a beautiful way to start things, because it's not at all overwhelming. Other outstanding tracks include I'm Sorry Huston, Home Field Advantage and the simple, but powerful ode to that scourge of rural America in You and Your Crystal Meth.
Really, it's a unified album that you need to hear from start to finish. It's a melodic overture of excellent alt-country, but even with that classification it's not being given enough credit for being just excellent country music that doesn't come from Nashville. There isn't anything pop-ish about this. It's country through and through (ok, southern rock too) and is certain to be atop or near the top of best albums of the year lists when all's said and done.