- published: 05 Aug 2011
- views: 113667
Drive-By Truckers are an alternative country/Southern rock band based in Athens, Georgia, though two out of five current members (Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley) are originally from The Shoals region of Northern Alabama, and the band strongly identifies with Alabama. The band currently consists of Mike Cooley (lead vocals, guitar, banjo), Patterson Hood (lead vocals, guitar), Brad Morgan (drums), Jay Gonzalez (keys/guitar/accordion/backing vocals) and Matt Patton (bass guitar). Like many alternative country acts, the Drive-By Truckers record in analog (using 2 inch, 16-track open reel tape recorders). The band's constant touring has developed its dedicated following.
Drive-By Truckers was co-founded by Patterson Hood (son of bassist David Hood of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section) and longtime friend, former room-mate, and musical partner Mike Cooley in Athens, Georgia, in 1996. The two had played in various other bands including Adam's House Cat which was chosen as a top ten Best Unsigned Band by a Musician contest in the late 1980s. After the demise of Adam's House Cat, Cooley and Hood performed as a duo under the name "Virgil Kane." They eventually started a new band, "Horsepussy" with bassist Adam Howell (later to join DBT) and Aaron Bryant (brother of DBT webmaster Jenn Bryant) before splitting for a few years. It was during this split that Hood moved to Athens, Georgia and began forming what would become Drive-By Truckers "with the intent of luring Cooley back into the fold."
A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that typically involves the perpetrator firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Such shootings are often associated with gang violence in urban areas of the United States but also occur in other contexts. The tactic is also known in the media as simply a "drive-by". The primary motivations for a gang-involved drive-by include intimidation, terrorization, and assassination of rival street gang members.Numerous hip-hop artists have been targeted in drive-bys; prominent rappers who were killed in such incidents include Tupac Shakur,The Notorious B.I.G., and Mac Dre.
In the first decade of the 21st century, drive-by shootings were used by militants in Iraq, including the assassinations of Waldemar Milewicz and Hatem Kamil.
Mary Alice had a baby and he looked just like I did
We got married on a Monday and I been working ever since
Every week down at the Ford Plant but now they say they're shutting down
Goddamned Reagan in the White House and no one there gives a damn
Double Digit unemployment, TVA be shutting soon
While over there in Huntsville, They puttin' people on the moon
So I took to runnin' numbers for this man I used to know
And I sell a few narcotics and I sell a little blow
I ain't getting rich now but I'm gettin' more than by
It's really tough to make a living but a man just got to try
If I died in Colbert County, Would it make the evening news?
They too busy blowin' rockets, Puttin' people on the moon
Mary Alice quit askin' why I do the things I do
I ain't sayin' that she likes it, but what else I'm gonna do?
If I could solve the world's problems I'd probably start with hers and mine
But they can put a man on the moon
And I'm stuck in Muscle Shoals just barely scraping by
Mary Alice got cancer just like everybody here
Seems everyone I know is gettin' cancer every year
And we can't afford no insurance, I been 10 years unemployed
So she didn't get no chemo so our lives was destroyed
And nothin' ever changes, the cemetery gets more full
And now over there in Huntsville, even NASA's shut down too
Another Joker in the White House, said a change was comin' round
But I'm still workin' at The Wal Mart and Mary Alice, in the ground
And all them politicians, they all lyin' sacks of shit
They say better days upon us but I'm sucking left hind tit
And the preacher on the TV says it ain't too late for me
But I bet he drives a Cadillac and I'm broke with some hungry mouths to feed
I wish I'z still an outlaw, was a better way of life
I could clothe and feed my family still have time to love my pretty wife
And if you say I'm being punished. Ain't he got better things to do?
Turnin' mountains into oceans Puttin' people on the moon
Turnin' mountains into oceans Puttin' people on the moon