The Drive-By Truckers deliver a stellar kickass show in Vancouver

By Steve Newton

See that grey Drive-By Truckers t-shirt with the Wes Freed-created Cooley Bird? Pretty sweet, eh? Though normally quite the cheapskate, I had no qualms at all about dropping 50 bones for that memento in Vancouver last night (June 12) after the DBTs played one stellar kickass show at the Commodore Ballroom.

jeff sutherland photo

The quintet–comprised of singer-guitarists Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, guitarist-keyboardist Jay Gonzalez, bassist Matt Patton, and drummer Brad Morgan–wasted no time in getting the rock rolling with “Birthday Boy”, a track off their 2010 album The Big To-Do. When I compiled my list of the Drive-By Truckers’ 20 Best Songs six years ago that exhilirating tune battled it out with “A Ghost to Most” for the #1 spot. I’ve been known to listen to “Birthday Boy” over and over and over again and never get tired of it.

In fact, I’m gonna listen to it again right now. Why not join me?

The current live version of “Birthday Boy” benefits greatly from the scintillating slide-guitar work of Gonzalez, an invaluable member of the DBT team whose soaring solos throughout the night contrasted beautifully with the gritty rhythms of Hood and Cooley.

The Truckers followed up “Birthday Boy” with another one of my all-time faves, “The Righteous Path”, with Hood taking over the lead vocals from Cooley for his 2008 barnburner, which tells a vivid tale of a regular guy trying to cope with the stresses of everyday life.

I got a couple of opinions that I hold dear
Got a whole lot of debt and a whole lot of fear
Got an itch that needs scratching but it feels alright
Got the need to blow it out on a Saturday night
Got a grill in the backyard and a case of beers
Got a boat that ain’t seen the water in years
More bills than money, I can do the math
I’m trying to keep focused on the righteous path

As well as being sharp-eyed commentators on the trials and tribulations of regular folks, the Drive-By Truckers have always carried a big, Buford Pusser-sized stick when it comes to politics. Although there wasn’t a lot of anti-MAGA preaching going on, at one point the Alabama-born, Georgia-bred, and Oregon-based Hood let it all hang out as far as what he feels is happening to his country these days:

“Fuck those motherfuckers trying to make it a fascist state!” he hollered, drawing heavy cheers from a room that was apparently devoid of big Trump fans. To get Hood’s point across the band raged through “Surrender Under Protest”, a BLM-based Cooley song off the 2016 American Band LP that’s particularly timely considering today’s ICE-driven debacle down south.

Other highlights of the show–the only Canadian date on the band’s current Charm and Decadence Tour 2025–included a couple of Hood-penned songs from the band’s breakthrough 2001 release, Southern Rock Opera. The riff-driven “Ronnie and Neil” tells of the misunderstood friendship between Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Ronnie Van Zant, while “Let There Be Rock”–not to be confused with the 1977 AC/DC song–is a montage of ’70s arena-rock memories that namechecks a slew of bands I grew up with, including Blue Öyster Cult, Molly Hatchet, 38 Special, the Johnny Van Zant Band, and fallen rock heroes Bon Scott and Randy Rhoads.

It’s personally relatable tunes like that that have helped make the Drive-By Truckers my favourite contemporary rock band.

Unfortunately, due to something called Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals (Go Oilers!), I couldn’t drag myself away from the TV early enough to make the trek downtown in time to check out either coheadliners Deer Tick or openers Thelma and the Sleaze. But American rock fans have the opportunity to see all three acts as the tour continues with 26 more shows scheduled, including one tonight (June 13) at Washington State’s Marymoor Park.

To hear the full audio of my interviews with Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley–and former DBT member Jason Isbell as well–subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 500 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with rockers since 1982.