I totally believe in musical fate. In my life, I feel like I have had many bands arrive in my life when I needed that particular band most. Phish, The Grateful Dead, Kevn Kinney, Drivin’ N Cryin’, The Band, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, these acts and many are acts that I found at a particular time in my life when I REALLY needed to find them. The Drive By Truckers are no exception to the rule.
I first saw Drive By Truckers opening for the Allman Brothers Band a few years back and I just remember I wasn’t impressed with them. I’m not sure what it was. Maybe it was that I was so ready to see the Allman’s that day and it was like 100 degrees. Maybe it was just that I wasn’t open to anything new that day. Not sure what it was but I just didn’t like them. All my friends who do like them were VERY surprised and kept saying “Dude, you should LOVE this band…” I think that may have even closed me off from them anymore. I hate it when people say, “You should LOVE this band.” Anyways, I wrote them off and figured that was it.
The bassist in my band is a HUGE Truckers fan and kept telling me how awesome they were and how much he just loved this band. He’s a passionate guy and he loves his music (much like me) so I just felt the need to give them a shot. He had an extra ticket to see them on November 3rd in Raleigh so I took him up on the offer and tagged along to see the band. What I saw that night changed my life forever and REALLY inspired me in a new way as a performer, a singer and a songwriter.
The band was just on fire. Talk about a band that fires on all cylinders live. This is one of the most unpretentious bands I have ever seen and as cheesy as it sounds, they are a band that really plays for their fans. The audience was so into them and so pumped to see them. They hadn’t played at the Lincoln Theatre in four years and playing to a sold out house just had the band smiling from ear to ear. I didn’t even know a single song they were playing but I was just so taken in by the words and the energy that they were putting out.
As a singer/songwriter myself, it’s always inspiring to see a band where the singers might not be the best singers in the world but the quality of performance and the quality of the songs is there and more so than many other bands. Seeing this band like this really inspired me and reminded me that you can still be good while not being perfect. You can have great songs and great delivery without having pitch perfect vocals or spot on harmonies. The audience knows this. They knew every song, sang along and danced for well over two hours as the band turned out song after song.
Inspiration came to me this night and with it one of my new favorite all time bands. I’m glad my life was open to them and thanks Ira, I can never repay you for this!
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