Drive-By Truckers Album: “Alabama Ass Whuppin'”

When I was a teenager and I wanted to get a decent overview of a band I didn't know much about, I would try to pick up a band's live album to see what songs I liked. The songs I liked would then be searched out and the appropriate studio albums purchased by the band thereafter. The unfortunate thing is that over time, I grew to believe that live albums were usually inferior to the songs on the studio counterpart. This is only untrue with the Cheap Trick at Budokan album (albums, if you didn't know there were two at one time) and the first three studio albums those live album tracks are taken from.

The latest album released by the Truckers as I write this is "The Dirty South." Since I now have all of the studio albums by the Truckers, I decided to pick this CD up to complete my collection. There are only three songs on this album not available on studio albums, "Don't Be in Love around Me," "People Who Died" (a Jim Carrol tune - yes, the same guy who wrote "The Basketball Diaries") and "The Avon Lady" which is more of a spoken-word piece with musical accompaniment.

For the most part, the songs are straightforward counterparts of the studio versions, in some cases more rockin', since nearly 60% of "Gangstabilly" is done with acoustic instruments. Such is the case for "Too Much Sex, Too Little Jesus." You get an extra spoken-word intro to "18 Wheels of Love" which is pretty funny and adds a little to the story behind the tune. "Margo and Harold" sounds the most different from its studio counterpart. I like the studio version better, but this version is pretty interesting. This is also the first time anyone had an official release of "Lookout Mountain," which was also released on the Trucker's latest, "The Dirty South." This version is a just a little more grungy, or slower than that studio version.

This is a nice collection, but like most live albums, it falls short of the studio versions. And if you're a Truckers fan, it is well known that they allow taping of their shows, which usually run the length of two and a half to three hours. This effort pales in comparison. This was a good collection, which covered basically the Trucker's first two studio releases and had an additional 4 songs that no one had heard at the time.

This is a great live album!! Not only does it give you a wonderful introduction to the Truckers it's a fine representation of their live show as well. In my opinion this was the turning point for the band and is it's caught on tape. CHECK IT OUT!!!

If it's got a bad word in the title it must be worth listening to. And it's excatly what I'm going to give my children if they say that bad word. But, Mmm, Mmm, the music sure does have a twang that makes a person want to slap his mama.

Lucy Adams, author of If Mama Don't Laugh, It Ain't Funny

I've toured much of the south with my many cover bands and this album title caught my attention. I asked Burns, do you think someone will beat us up if we go to Alabama? He said that an old wise man in Tecumsuh told him that indian legend has it that if you cross the alabama border for the first time, three men in an old truck are waiting at the border to give you your alabama ass whuppin. Well, I was a little worried because my adam ant one man tribute show was getting ready to hit the state of alabama and I evidentally was going to be challenged. I was ready. I rode my honda spree across the border and sure enough three guys were sitting in an old F-150 waiting for me. They pulled me over and asked if I was ready for my whuppin. I told them no and that I was going to destroy them by myself and sleep with the hottest of their sisters. Sure enough I did three crane kicks and picked the hottest sister to have relations with. My Adam Ant show sold out all over the south and no one from Alabama ever bothered me again. I'm awesome.