Drive-By Truckers Announce New Album ‘The Unraveling’
Drive-By Truckers have announced the release of their much-anticipated new album. The Unraveling arrives on Friday, January 31, 2020. The Unraveling is heralded by today’s premiere of the bracing new single, “Armageddon’s Back In Town,” available now for streaming and download. The track is joined by an official lyric video streaming now.
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WATCH “ARMAGEDDON’S BACK IN TOWN”
Drive-By Truckers’ 12th studio album and first new LP in more than three years – the longest gap between new DBT albums – The Unraveling was recorded at the legendary Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis, TN by GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price) and longtime DBT producer David Barbe. Co-founding singer/songwriter/guitarists Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood both spent much of the time prior doing battle with deep pools of writer’s block. “How do you put these day to day things we’re all living through into the form of a song that we (much less anybody else) would ever want to listen to?” says Hood. “How do you write about the daily absurdities when you can’t even wrap your head around them in the first place? I think our response was to focus at the core emotional level. More heart and less cerebral perhaps.”
The songs that eventually emerged are among Drive-By Truckers’ most direct and pointedly provocative, tackling the myriad horrors of our new normal through sincere emotion and unbridled heart. Indeed, “Armageddon’s Back in Town” takes a whirlwind joyride through the whiplash of events we collectively deal with each day while the concluding “Awaiting Resurrection” dives headfirst into the despair and pain roiled up by these troubled times.
“The past three-and-a-half years were among the most tumultuous our country has ever seen,” says Hood, “and the duality between the generally positive state of affairs within our band while watching so many things we care about being decimated and destroyed all around us informed the writing of this album to the core.
“While a quick glance might imply that we’re picking up where 2016’s American Band album left off, the differences are as telling as the similarities. If the last one was a warning shot hinting at a coming storm, this one was written in the wreckage and aftermath. I’ve always said that all of our records are political but I’ve also said that ‘politics is personal’. With that in mind, this album is especially personal.”
The remarkable songcraft found on The Unraveling receives much of its musical muscle from the sheer strength of the current Drive-By Truckers line-up, with Hood and Cooley joined by bassist Matt Patton, keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Jay Gonzalez, and drummer Brad Morgan – together, the longest-lasting iteration in the band’s almost 25-year history. The LP also features a number of special guests, including The Shins’ Patti King, violinist/string arranger Kyleen King (Brandi Carlile), and North Mississippi All-Stars’ Cody Dickinson, who contributes electric washboard to the strikingly direct “Babies In Cages.”
Hailed by Stereogum as “perhaps the greatest extant American rock and roll band,” Drive-By Truckers will mark The Unraveling with an epic world tour, to be announced soon. In the meantime, the band is set for a series of upcoming live dates, including a two-night-stand at Englewood, CO’s Gothic Theatre (January 17-18) and the annual HeAthen’s Homecoming, a three-night extravaganza marking the 26th anniversary of Hood’s first visit to Athens, GA’s world famous 40 Watt Club (February 13-15). In addition, both Hood and Cooley will spend December traveling on solo concert tours.
JANUARY
16 – Boulder, CO – Fox Theater
17 – Denver, CO – Gothic Theatre
18 – Denver, CO – Gothic Theatre
FEBRUARY
13 – Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club
14 – Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club
15 – Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club
18 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
19 – Charlottesville, VA – Jefferson Theater
21 – New York, NY – Webster Hall
22 – Boston, MA – Somerville Theatre
23 – Portland, ME – State Theatre
25 – New Haven, CT – College Street Music Hall
27 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
28 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
29 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
MARCH
20 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
21 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
22 – Arcata, CA – Van Duzer Theatre
24 – Petaluma, CA – Mystic Theatre
26 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
27 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent Theater
28 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
31 – Albuquerque, NM – El Rey Theater
APRIL
2 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
3 – Austin, TX – Scoot Inn
4 – Austin, TX – Scoot Inn
16 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel
17 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel
18 – Charleston, NC – High Water Festival *
21 – Winston-Salem, NC – The Ramkat
23 – Lexington, KY – Manchester Music Hall
24 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
25 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
27 – Pensacola, FL – Vinyl Music Hall
28 – Orlando, FL – The Plaza Live
29 – Ponte Vedra Beach, FL – Ponte Vedra Concert Hall
MAY
1 – Birmingham, AL – Iron City
2 – Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees *
JUNE
1 – Raalte, NL – Ribs and Blues
3 – Dublin, IE – Vicar Street
5 – Leeds, UK – Irish Centre
6 – London, UK – O2 Forum
7 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso
8 – Antwerp, BE – De Roma
9 – Koln, DE – Kantine
11 – Berlin, DE – Kesselhaus
12 – Copenhagen, DK – Amager Bio
13 – Stockholm, SE – Sthlm Americana *
14 – Oslo, NO – Rockefeller
15 – Arhaus, DK – Train
* FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE
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PATTERSON HOOD
SOLO 2019
NOVEMBER
22 – Huntsville, AL – Tangled String Studios (EARLY SHOW/LATE SHOW)
DECEMBER
2 – York, PA – Appell Center For The Performing Arts
3 – Bethesda, MD – AMP by Strathmore
5 – Charleston, SC – The Pour House
6 – Tampa, FL – The Attic
7 – Tampa, FL – The Attic
9 – Decatur, GA – Eddie’s Attic
10 – Decatur, GA – Eddie’s Attic
12 – Austin, TX – Cactus Café
13 – Austin, TX – Cactus Café
14 – Dallas, TX – Sons of Hermann Hall
16 – Salt Lake City, UT – The State Room
17 – Denver, CO – Globe Hall
18 – Denver, CO – Globe Hall
20 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
21 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
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MIKE COOLEY
SOLO 2019
DECEMBER
4 – Portland, OR – The Old Church
5 – Seattle, WA – Ballard Homestead
6 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
7 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
11 – Pensacola, FL – Ashmore Auditorium at Pensacola State College
12 – Jacksonville, FL – Blue Jay Listening Room
13 – Decatur, GA – Eddie’s Attic (EARLY SHOW/LATE SHOW)
14 – Birmingham, AL – Saturn
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