Capsule Music Review - Drive-By Truckers

Drive-By Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse

A major disappointment, not because it's bad really but because 2004's The Dirty South may well end up being the album of the decade. The band's chops and emotional sincerity are still there but unfortunately primary songwriter Patterson Hood has succumbed to the temptation of lazy songwriting. The specifics of Dirty South have been traded for a surfeit of vague generalities - "I'm just floating", "Don't be so easy on yourself," and, God help us, "When the well runs dry." The major exception is the heartbreaking "Little Bonnie." "A World of Hurt" is also surprisingly effective due to its wrenching emotional honesty, despite its potentially cliched-sounding spoken-rather-than-sung lyrics.