I don’t play it as much as I’d like, but I have no doubt that Drive-By Truckers’ 2008 full-length Brighter Than Creation’s Dark is the quintessential record by one of America’s great rock bands. Yet I don’t spin Brighter much simply because I’ve grown to love 2014’s English Oceans, a pretty damn good record that includes some of co-leader Mike Cooley’s best songs. The side of me that wants the Truckers to be more pop and less shambolic gets off on Cooley’s well-ordered songwriting style, which contrasts with Patterson Hood’s shaggier approach. Cooley’s English Oceans song “Shit Shots Count” is a brilliant piece of work, and I’m impressed by his writing on the group’s new American Band — “Filthy and Fried” is sharp tunecraft and astute sociology. And when I need a quick shot of the Truckers, I return to Cooley’s Brighter track “Self Destructive Zones,” quite possibly the greatest four minutes they’ve recorded to date. EDD HURT
Mike Cooley
