Album Reviews

Patterson Hood announced “Go-Go Boots” as a film noir whereas “The Big To-Do” was more of an ‘action adventure summertime flick (albeit with some brainy and dark undercurrents)’. While there are in fact not too many differences between both albums, “Go-Go Boots” does sound a bit more restrained and comes with a slightly different atmosphere. But it’s still that typical mix of country and Southern rock that we’ve come to love about the Drive-By Truckers, that is still omnipresent here with an additional twist of soul.

That soul influence is owed largely to the two Eddie Hinton covers you’ll find on the album. Hood delivers a pretty good take of “Everybody Needs Love” but it’s Shonia Tucker who steals everybody’s heart with her cover of “Where’s Eddie”. Spoiler alert: she doesn’t find him and so she goes out after another man in “Dancin Ricky”, not an album highlight if you ask me.

Cooley and Hood, the other two songwriters in the band, are still my favorites though. The score between them is 3 – 8 on “Go-Go Boots” with Cooley’s material sounding more optimistic than Hood’s rather depressing take on life.

Whatever though, with three songwriters in one band you get to hear a lot of different vibes. It makes for yet another damn fine Drive-By Truckers album.