Ride Festival: Drive By Truckers

04 Jul Ride Festival: Drive By Truckers

Drive By Truckers

Hitch a rockin’ ride with Drive By Truckers at Telluride’s 2nd annual Ride Festival, also featuring David Byrne & St. Vincent, Big Head Todd & The Monsters, Rodrigo y Gabriella, Cake, Steve Earle, Buddy Miller, Son Volt, The Revivalists, Brown Bird, Brothers & Bones, The Whiskey Sisters, Matthew Curry, and the Hazel Miller Gospel Brunch. The event takes place Saturday and Sunday, July 13 and July 14 in Telluride’s Town Park.

The Truckers is an alternative country/Southern rock band co-founded by Patterson Hood and his friend and musical partner Mike Cooley in 1996 in Athens, Georgia. But Drive By Truckers’ sound traces its roots back to the Muscle Shoals region of Alabama where, as Patterson’s father, legendary bassist David Hood, astutely noted, “the South once did something right with respect to race relations, once-upon-a-time, and when it most mattered.”

In their documentary, “The Secret to a Happy Ending,” Patterson speaks of the South’s “duality thing.” He is referring to the fecund green clamor of summer, insects shrilling high in the canopy as if giving voice to a fever in the land that may or may not be a madness. All that means play it loud. In winter, the bare raw limbs is the signature of things going, going – gone. That adds up to paint it black. In fact, Truckers songs tend to walk on the dark side of the street, but from time to time, stumble into cathedrals and columns of light. In fact, a Trucker fan (and historian) described a “happiness” in their music:

“Not joy, but the rare, more sustainable and enduring thing, a happiness earned by exploring the darkness – and surviving,” explained Rick Bass.

Current members: Patterson Hood – guitar, vocals, bass (1996 – present); Mike “The Stroker Ace” Cooley – guitar, vocals, bass (1996 – present); Brad “The EZB” Morgan – drums (1999 – present); Jay Gonzalez – keyboards, guitar, vocals (2008 – present); and Matt Patton – bass (2012 – present).

For a preview of what’s in store at The Ride, check out this video.