Decoration Day (album)

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Professional reviews
Decoration Day

Studio album by Drive-By Truckers
Released	June 17, 2003
Genre	Southern rock
Length	64:53
Label	New West Records
Producer(s)	David Barbe
All Music Guide link Pitchfork (8.0/10) 8/29/2003 PopMatters (Favorable) 6/25/2003 Robert Christgau (A-) link Rolling Stone 6/26/2003
Drive-By Truckers chronology
Southern Rock Opera (2001)	Decoration Day (2003)	The Dirty South (2004)

Decoration Day is a rock/alt-country album released by Drive-By Truckers in 2003. Recorded in Athens, Georgia and produced by noted producer and former Sugar bassist David Barbe, the album is the Truckers' fifth, following the critically acclaimed Southern Rock Opera.

Guitarist & songwriter Patterson Hood describes Decoration Day as being lyrically a "pretty dark" record[1], though he notes that the band "had so much fun making it, and I think that kind of comes through". Three of the album's songs - "Heathens", "Your Daddy Hates Me" and "Give Pretty Soon" - are referred to as being Hood's "divorce trilogy", dealing with what Hood himself refers to as the "emotional fallout" that follows divorce[2].

As is the Truckers' trademark, a number of Decoration Day's songs deal with elements of southern folklore. The title track, written by guitarist Jason Isbell, tells "a story that's rumored to be true" of two families involved in a passionate intergenerational feud which has gone on so long that few can remember why such hatred exists between them.

Isbell's "Outfit" describes the advice given to him by his own father, advising him, among other things, to have fun but to avoid drugs, to call home for his sister's birthday, not to sing in a "fake British accent" or to make The Beatles' faux pas and claim to be "bigger than Jesus".

Futhering the focus on interfamilial relations - albeit in a much different way - is Hood's "The Deeper In", which tells the story of the only two people in the United States to be serving prison time for consensual brother/sister incest. This somewhat cryptic title is actually part of a Southern, tongue-in-cheek expression -- "The closer kin, the deeper in."

[edit] Critical reception

Having been brought to the attention of many critics through the success of Southern Rock Opera, Decoration Day was eagerly anticipated and, upon its arrival, astonishingly well received. The album garnered excellent reviews from critics like Robert Christgau of The Village Voice as well as publications such as SPIN Magazine, Pitchfork Media [3] and Rolling Stone [4]. Decoration Day would go on to place on many publications' "Best of 2003" lists, including the Village Voice's influential Pazz & Jop poll [5], No Depression's "40 Best Alt. Country (Yeah, Whatever That Is) Albums of 2003" [6], Rolling Stone's "Critics' Top 10 of 2003" [7] and Amazon.com's "Top 100 Editors' Picks of 2003" [8].

[edit] Personnel

Mike Cooley - Guitar, Vocals.
Earl Hicks - Bass.
Patterson Hood - Guitar, Vocals.
Jason Isbell - Guitar, Vocals.
Brad Morgan - Drums.
David Barbe - Producer, Engineer, Mixer, Guitar, Keyboards, Wurlitzer, Upright Piano.
Scott Danborn - Fiddle
Clay Leverett - Harmony.
John Neff - Pedal steel.
Spooner Oldham - Wurlitzer, Soloist.