When the band’s focus was on telling tales-fact or fiction, but all of an undeniable southern truth. The performance and the setlist benefit from the band’s earlier incarnation and showcase a time in America when each day was not by definition more contentious than the day before. Hood’s brooding “Lookout Mountain” makes for a suitable capper to send their fans out into a southern summer night. “Decoration Day,” “Outfit,” and “Goddamn Lonely Love” are some of Drive-By Truckers’ finest songs and there is good reason they continue to be Isbell live set staples. Isbell’s lead moments may not be as bashed out (the solo on “Decoration Day” is a notable exception), but his songwriting chops are unparalleled and point to his storied solo career. Southern Rock Opera chestnuts “Ronnie and Neil” and “Let There Be Rock” replicate Crazy Horse’s shambolic skronk with the former’s off-key harmonies providing a charming moment. Arguably the best song ever written about a truck milage log auditor, “18 Wheels of Love” has the crowd hooting and hollering along with Hood’s protracted tale.
Accordingly, Hood’s best moments here are also his most direct. Perhaps Cooley’s songs shine brightly here because playing a two-hour set in a record store is no time to explore nuance. Maybe it’s the store’s hotbox setting, but Cooley’s straight forward songs have the band fully locked in with Neff’s pedal steel punctuating scorchers like “Shut Up and Get on the Plane.” Though he comes a little hot out of the box on “Marry Me,” Cooley’s loose-limbed barroom rave-up makes for the album’s fieriest moment. In spite of Hood’s dominant songwriting and the opportunity to catch live versions of Isbell’s most potent Drive-By Truckers songs, Mike Cooley comes across in finest fettle here. In fact, The Stones’ non- Exile track “Midnight Mile” is the sole cover here.
Neff’s presence is readily apparent from the start on “Tales Facing Up,” and gives large swaths of the album an undeniable Exile on Main Street feel. Not only does Plan 9 have Isbell on board, but it coincides with pedal steel player John Neff’s tenure with the band.
#BAND IN A BOX 9.0 REVIEWS FULL#
In full disclosure, there is a Live At the 40 Watt DVD that chronologically precedes this set by a few years and includes Isbell. All of whom had been murdered earlier in the year-Drive-By Truckers leader Patterson Hood would later eulogize the Harveys on “Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife.” What makes the Plan 9 live set most notable though is that it’s the band’s first live album release to cover the Jason Isbell era. The over two-hour set served to celebrate the store’s 25th anniversary but was also a memorial fundraiser for Bryan Harvey (leader of ’80s Richmond duo House of Freaks) and his family. In the midst of another long haul tour promoting their A Blessing and a Curse album, Drive-By Truckers found a moment to stop off for a set at Richmond’s Plan 9 Records.
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