The Complete Dirty South

After five years of playing anyplace that would have them and cutting three albums they released themselves, the Drive-By Truckers finally made a breakthrough in 2001 with Southern Rock Opera, a two-disc concept album about "the Duality of the Southern Thing" and the life and (literal) death of a band not unlike Lynyrd Skynyrd. The albums unanimously positive reviews and impressive indie sales led to the DBTs scoring a deal with Lost Highway Records, Universals roots music imprint, which reissued Southern Rock Opera and signed on to release the follow-up. Lost Highway had already distributed promo copies of 2003s Decoration Day when they chose not to release it after all, and the band scrambled to find a new home, with New West rushing the album out three months after Lost Highways original release date came and went. The following year, the DBTs turned in their next studio effort, a projected double set called The Dirty South, but New West balked, insisting the band trim it down to a single CD, and perhaps weary of music biz drama, they acquiesced and cut three songs from the set list. The edited version was a commercial and critical success, with many fans and critics citing it as their best album, but the band never forgot how the album was supposed to be, and in 2023, the Drive-By Truckers and New West partnered to release The Complete Dirty South. The "Directors Cut" edition restored the intended sequence with the addition of the songs "TVA," "The Great Car Dealer Wars," and "Goodes Field Road" (they re-cut the latter for 2008s Brighter Than Creations Dark), while group leader Patterson Hood revised his lyrics and recut his vocals for "Puttin People on the Moon" and "The Sands of Iwo Jima." Trying to improve an album that was already a standout in a bands catalog is a calculated risk, and The Complete Dirty South isnt radically superior to the album they put out in 2004. That said, the expanded release does have a smoother narrative flow, the unheard tracks are certainly up to the standards of the rest of the set, especially Jason Isbells powerful "TVA" (though the Brighter Than Creations Dark version of "Goodes Field Road" cuts a stronger groove), and the remastering makes a real difference, giving the material a stronger and bolder sound that flatters the bands three-guitar attack. Nearly 20 years after it was released, these stories of people struggling with the weight of the past and the burdens of the present day havent dated a bit; in fact, they feel even more timely in the 2020s. Anyone who enjoyed The Dirty South as it appeared in 2004 will find The Complete Dirty South rewarding, and those who havent heard it owe it to themselves to hear it in uncompromised form. ~ Mark Deming