American Band (album)

American Band
Studio album by Drive-By Truckers
Released	September 30, 2016
Genre	Country rock, alternative rock, alternative country
Length	46:47
Label	ATO
Producer	David Barbe
Drive-By Truckers chronology
English Oceans (2014) American Band (2016)
Singles from American Band
"Surrender Under Protest" Released: 2016

American Band is the eleventh studio album by American Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers, released on September 30, 2016 on ATO Records. Produced by long-time collaborator David Barbe, and recorded in the summer of 2016, it is the first Drive-By Truckers album since 1999's Pizza Deliverance not to feature cover art by their longtime collaborator Wes Freed.

American Band is their second record with only two songwriters, the other being English Oceans, released two years earlier. All of their earlier records featured three songwriters. The record is notable for the most political lyrics of the band's career

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	88/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Chicago Tribune	[3]
Consequence of Sound	B+[4]
The Independent	[5]
Mojo	[6]
Now	4/5[7]
Rolling Stone	[8]
Slant Magazine	[9]
Uncut	9/10[10]
Vice	A[11]

American Band received very positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album holds an average score of 88, based on 18 reviews, which means "universal acclaim".^[1]

Accolades

Publication	Accolade	Year	Rank
Paste	The 50 Best Albums of 2016	2016	48[12]
Rolling Stone	50 Best Albums of 2016	2016	24[13]
Rough Trade	Albums of the Year	2016	63[14]

Track listing

1. "Ramon Casiano" – 3:58 (Cooley)
2. "Darkened Flags at the Cusp of Dawn" – 2:42 (Hood)
3. "Surrender Under Protest" – 3:51 (Cooley)
4. "Guns of Umpqua" – 3:51 (Hood)
5. "Filthy and Fried" – 3:38 (Cooley)
6. "Sun Don't Shine" – 3:25 (Hood)
7. "Kinky Hypocrite" – 3:14 (Cooley)
8. "Ever South" – 5:45 (Hood)
9. "What It Means" – 6:25 (Hood)
10. "Once They Banned Imagine" – 4:12 (Cooley)
11. "Baggage" – 5:46 (Hood)

Personnel

• Patterson Hood – lead and backing vocals, rhythm and lead electric and acoustic guitars
• Mike Cooley – lead vocals, lead and rhythm electric and acoustic guitars
• Brad Morgan – drums, percussion
• Matt Patton – bass, backing vocals
• Jay Gonzalez – Hammond B-3, piano, Wurlitzer, lead and rhythm electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals

Charts

Chart (2016)	Peak position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[15]	54
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[16]	138
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[17]	66
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[18]	40
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[19]	97
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[20]	50
UK Albums (OCC)[21]	29
US Billboard 200[22]	26

References

1. "Reviews for American Band by Drive-By Truckers". Metacritic. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
2. Deming, Mark. "American Band – Drive-By Truckers". AllMusic. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
3. Kot, Greg (October 14, 2016). "Drive-By Truckers raise the stakes on 'American Band'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
4. Caffrey, Dan (March 5, 2014). "Drive-By Truckers - American Band". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
5. Gill, Andy (September 28, 2016). "Album reviews: Drive-by Truckers, Van Morrison, Bon Iver, Pixies, Regina Spektor and more". The Independent. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
6. Simmons, Sylvie (November 2016). "Drive-By Truckers: American Band". Mojo. London (276): 93.
7. "Drive-By Truckers - American Band - Album Review". Now. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
8. Dolan, Jon (September 30, 2016). "Review: Drive-By Truckers' 'American Band' Is Election-Year Evalution [sic]". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
9. "Drive-By Truckers - American Band - Album Review". Slant Magazine. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
10. "Drive-By Truckers: American Band". Uncut. London (234): 18. November 2016.
11. Christgau, Robert (September 30, 2016). "America on the Tip of the Tongue: Expert Witness with Robert Christgau". Vice. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
12. "The 50 Best Albums of 2016". Paste. November 30, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
13. "50 Best Albums of 2016". Rolling Stone. November 29, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
14. "Albums of the Year". Rough Trade. November 14, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
15. "Ultratop.be – Drive-By Truckers – American Band" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
16. "Ultratop.be – Drive-By Truckers – American Band" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
17. "Dutchcharts.nl – Drive-By Truckers – American Band" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
18. "Norwegiancharts.com – Drive-By Truckers – American Band". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
19. "TOP 100 ALBUMES — SEMANA 40: del 30.09.2016 al 06.10.2016" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
20. "Swedishcharts.com – Drive-By Truckers – American Band". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
21. "Drive-By Truckers | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart Retrieved October 11, 2016.
22. "Drive-By Truckers – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Drive-By Truckers. Retrieved October 11, 2016.

External links

• Official website