RIFFS: Drive-By Truckers firing on all cylinders

“Last year was so busy,” recalls Mike Cooley, lead guitarist and longtime member of the Drive-By Truckers.

“The band is going to take things somewhat lighter in 2009. That’s always the intention, at least, but it rarely works out that way.”

Co-founded in 1996 by Mr. Cooley and fellow Georgia native Patterson Hood, the band wasted little time establishing itself as a torchbearer of the Southern rock movement. Three guitarists propelled the Truckers’ sound with twangy vigor while the songs themselves cast an unapologetic eye on wayward politicians and grizzled, downbeat characters.

As the decade drew to a close, the band buoyed its popularity by touring extensively, primarily in the Southeast and along the Atlantic seaboard.

“Richmond was one of the first towns to draw a crowd outside of our home,” Mr. Cooley says.

“The D.C. area caught on pretty quick, too. We used to play the Iota Club in Arlington, and we started packing that place in. From Richmond up to New York was our strongest region early on. It’s still one of the strongest.”

While the band’s audience continued to spread north, the musicians remained indebted to their homeland.

“Southern Rock Opera,” an ambitious double-disc album dedicated to the history and mythology of the South, was released to critical acclaim in 2001, receiving accolades for its sociocultural commentary and its raw, raucous sound. Viewed by many as the band’s magnum opus, it paved the way for a string of similar material, all of which paired the Truckers’ rock ‘n’ roll craft with unique lyrical insight.

The band continues to release timely music, drawing upon the talents of three songwriters — Mr. Hood, Mr. Cooley and bassist Shonna Tucker — for diversity and strength.

“Shonna’s writing has a unique quirk to it that fits in with what we do,” Mr. Cooley says of the bassist, who began contributing songs with the band’s 2008 release, “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark.”

“It breaks up the routine, and that’s one of the ways we were able to get away with putting 19 songs on the last record. We had three of her own songs to space out what me and Patterson were doing. If it was just up to him and me, we might’ve had to shorten it a bit. It would have been too much of the same.”

Contributing to the band’s diversity is a partnership with Booker T. Jones, leader of Stax Records’ seminal soul ensemble Booker T. & the M.G.’s.

After serving as Bettye LaVette’s backing band in 2007, the Drive-By Truckers were asked to join Mr. Jones in the studio, where the soul veteran recorded his first solo album in years.

“We had only blocked off a small amount of time,” Mr. Cooley says of the project, “and we were hoping to get five to seven songs recorded. Instead, we ended up tracking 11 songs and cutting the entire album in four days. It was a whirlwind.”

The Drive-By Truckers will resume that partnership this summer, when the band is slated to appear alongside Mr. Jones at several midyear festivals. Collaborating with two soul icons in three years, Mr. Cooley says, has been an honor.

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