Don't get me rambling about Drive-By Truckers. They're one of my favorite bands, and if I've had a beer or two and they come up, you might be in for an excruciating tangent about how, as good as their records are, the triple live album It's Great to Be Alive! is really what best captures the spirit and power of the band, and how... Ah, see, there I go.
I bring this up because the Truckers' two leaders, singer/songwriter/guitarists Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, happen to be my favorite guitar duo of all time. The vivid stories they tell of the South – of rotten politicians, dirtbag romances, gut-wrenching tragedies, and larger-than-life figures from the history books – wouldn't be what they are without Hood and Cooley's glorious call-and-response playing.
