Devils in the Details with Patterson Hood

In the early 2000s I was working in an office, right off Union Square in NYC. Some of my co-workers kept talking about a band called The Drive By Truckers, and their record Southern Rock Opera.

At that time, I was immune to the charms of a lot of Americana music. So, when I heard the band and album name, I assumed it wasn’t for me. The guys in my office who were evangelical about the record were both Southern, so I figured it was more for them and I’d give it a pass.

One day, though, I saw a photo of Patterson Hood from DBT. He was wearing a Sonic Youth t-shirt. That made me interested. I really did like Sonic Youth. This made me curious, so I agreed to take a listen to Southern Rock Opera, right there at work. I borrowed my co-workers copy and put it into the CD drive of my work computer.

As you might know, the album starts with a sort of spoken piece, “Days of Graduation”, that details two teenagers getting into a terrible accident. When the paramedics show up, “Freebird” is allegedly playing on the stereo. Patterson Hood deadpans “You know it’s a very long song.” I laughed out loud.

That was all it took, really. I was in. But the next hour or so of music blew my mind. DBT were investigating the legends and myths of rock and roll, eulogizing the concert parking lots, pumping fists to the glorious dreams and disappointments and absurdities of rock bands and the fans that love them. It was really fucking exciting. And funny. And ballsy. And…weirdly informative. By the time the second disc came out of my computer, I had a new favorite band.

Before too long, DBT played the Bowery Ballroom, and I was going to be there. The timing is a little fuzzy for me, but the internet suggests it was Halloween night, 2003. If so, they already had released their great next album Decoration Day. Also, I had already played a handful of shows with my band The Hold Steady.

I bring this last point up because I have told a version of this story that said the show I saw that night at the Bowery Ballroom inspired me to want to be in a band again, and led to us starting The Hold Steady. It seems like it’s more accurate to say the show clarified what I wanted out of being in a band. I wanted to be like the Drive By Truckers, in whatever way was possible for me and my friends.

It was loud. It was sweaty. It was wild. There were three electric blazing electric guitars. They drank straight from a massive Jack Daniels bottle. The band vamped while Patterson told stories. They played covers as well as their own awesome songs. At the end, the band members came together and gave a showbiz bow to say goodbye. It was truly glorious, and one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen.

I couldn’t stop talking about it. I was hooked. In fact, about a year later DBT was booked on the David Letterman show. After my workday, I headed up there and loitered around to see if I might see any of them on the sidewalk so I could tell them how much they meant to me, and to perhaps give them a copy of my bands new CD, Almost Killed Me. I struck out there, there was no sign of the band members. But I kept going to see them play live when they were in town, and they were always amazing.

Sometime after the first THS record, there was a review that said we were something like Drive by Truckers for northerners. This summation made me very pleased. Despite some differences, both our bands were telling stories about the people we knew from the places we were from - DBT down south, THS in the upper midwest.

In 2006, we started working with John Agnello on our third album, Boys and Girls in America. John had mixed the new DBT record A Blessing and A Curse, which came out just as we were starting BAGIA. I remember being at Water Music and pumping John for information about the members of DBT. My own band was doing pretty well, but I was still a true fan of the Truckers. He told me they were very cool people, and that he’d introduce us if he got the chance.

At some point, Patterson did some solo show and I was out of town, but Tad and John went to the show and met Patterson. Tad told me that Patterson was super friendly and had asked about THS. I was disappointed that I missed the show but excited our camps had finally made contact with each other.

Then, in early 2008, DBT released Brighter Than Creation’s Dark. The first song, “The Righteous Path”, had a lyric “Just trying to hold steady on a righteous path” that I thought might be a shout out. Through Agnello, we were able to confirm that it was indeed a nod to our band. This was thrilling! Also through John, we asked Patterson if he might sing a backup vocal on our song “Navy Sheets”, and he agreed.

All of this long distance band friendship flirtation led to the inevitable: a co-headlining tour. I suggested we call it the Rock and Roll Means Well tour, after a great line in one of Mike Cooley’s DBT songs. (“Rock and Roll means well, but it can’t help telling young boys lies.”) We had a couple of phone conversations about how the tour would go: flipping headline sets each night, with hopefully some songs that we could jam on together in the encores. THS got a few covers under our belt for this purpose: “Burnin’ For You” by Blue Oyster Cult, “Lawyers Guns & Money” by Warren Zevon, “Lookout Cleveland” by The Band.

The tour kicked off in Louisville and then headed south. As we got to know each other a bit, things got more epic each night. After the Tallahassee show, a bunch of us ended up at George Clinton’s house. This was documented in an article for Uncut Magazine. Halfway through the tour was the historic 2008 election, and we were posted up in State College on a day off, if memory serves. Somewhere there’s a photo of Patterson and I on the DBT bus, holding up a laptop announcing Barack Obama’s victory. I can’t find it now, but it exists. We had a fun day off in Niagra Falls. We went through Minneapolis and did a two night stand at First Avenue. The run ended in Los Angeles just before Thanksgiving. It was one of the most fun tours of my life.

Besides the music, I really enjoyed getting to hang out with all of the DBT members, and I got to spend some decent time with Patterson. Hanging with their band made me an even bigger fan. Over the next few years, Patterson and I would see each other sporadically at festivals and on tour. I looked forward to each Truckers record as well as his excellent solo records.

In late 2012, we hatched a cool plan - to go to Europe with our friend Will Johnson. We’d form a three headed beast - a true songwriters round with all of us on stage at the same time. The plan was to keep it loose, trade songs, tell stories, drink some beers. We did just that.

The tour had some outside non musical personnel struggles, but the actual shows were really amazing. We went to Spain, Norway, Finland, Holland, and the UK. Funny enough, the tour once again coincided with US election day, and we watched the returns come in while in a bar in Barcelona, and woke up the next morning to find Barack Obama had been elected to a second term. I guess we have a thing for November. My favorite show was at the awesome Union Chapel in London, but the one in Ourense Spain was also legendary. And it was at a festival in Holland that I ran into Josh Kaufman, who saw our set and said “if you ever need some help recording some songs….” The rest, as they say, is history.

Just a few months ago I went to see Patterson at the Mercury Lounge. He was touring his awesome new record Exploding Trees and Airplane Screams, and had a killer band in tow. The show was magical, and I was especially impressed by the musicianship of Ben Hackett, who played some cool vintage synths and sax, among other things. Patterson and I had been plotting an idea to do some dates together, and after the show we met up at a local bar to discuss.

We came up with a plan - both of us on stage at once, each playing our songs. We thought about bringing and additional musician and I mentioned that I had been really impressed with Ben Hackett’s playing. He concurred, and we asked Ben to be a part of it. Lucky for us, he said yes.

We’re going to call it the Devils in the Details tour. It’s from one of the songs on his new record, but I think it also says something about the details in the songs we both write. I am thrilled to be heading out on tour with one of America’s great songwriters and, also, a friend.

So, that gets us here. To today, as tickets go on sale for the Devils in the Details tour. It’s something I very much have been looking forward to, and even more so now that I took the time to write 1500 words about our history.

It’s been quite a journey - from waiting outside the Letterman theater, CD in hand, to the friendship we now enjoy. Thus, I feel very blessed to be heading out with Patterson. I do hope you’ll join us for these very special shows in November.