95 North. . . The Newspaper

Cautionary tales are often cemented into the catalog of stories for children for a reason. Their simple moral framing allows them to serve as anecdotes of utility, passing along moral knowledge from one generation to the next. The content of these stories is such that the emotional impact is up front, the lessons clear, and the call to action is cemented in the developing brain. However, at a certain point a cautionary tale loses its luster- it's black and white ethics don't hold a candle to the world lit with grey in front of us. Instead, we search for nuance, meaning, and dignity. When cautionary tales won't do, we are brought to a place of enrichment and meaning through songs like the Drive By Truckers emotional rocker entitled "The Fourth Night of my Drinking" off of their 2010 album The Big To-Do .  "The Fourth Night of My Drinking" may appear to, on the surface level, provide listeners with a cautionary tale on the perils of drinkin...

No one but our favorite big-hearted pal Patterson Hood could write a song like "Guns of Umpqua", a gem of a track off of the band's critically acclaimed 2016 album American Band.  "Guns of Umpqua"   discusses the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon (2015, killed 10, injured 7) over a steadily strummed acoustic guitar, clean piano, and a melodic, and overall confident band that settles in for the journey. Mike Cooley throws a few flares of sunlight on the track with his tasteful lead guitar licks, as images of the deep green forest, evergreen giants, salmon jumping in the river, sunlight, fog, and morning coffee fill in. Here, these images of a beautiful life lived sit side by side with sounds of shots in the hallway, bringing to life the real devastation of public shootings in the United States. We hear about how great life can be. Then we hear how life can be. The song is a testament to a life well lived, outside of chaos, and i...

How about a band with not one, but three verified songwriting aces’s? Sounds good to me. And no, they're not the Beatles. Who are the Truckers? They hail from the music hotbed of  Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and are known to generally play alt-country, rock, folk, and blues. Their de facto leader is Patterson Hood, but the band has been strongly influenced by two other songwriters: Jason Isbell and Mike Cooley. Isbell, who is much younger than Hood and Cooley, was separated from the band sometime around 2007. You can read about Jason's best work here. Just like the Beatles, the band seems to follow the rule "if you write the song, you sing it". Despite the different songwriting voices that populate the Truckers albums, all three songwriters are deeply rooted i n, yet critical of, southern culture. In fact, they coined  “the duality of the southern thing" phrase, which spoke to the contradictions and complexity of southern culture. The band works hard, aren...

Previous Installment's of "Hear Mike Cooley? part 1 part 2 part  3 Yet another gem off 2008's Brighter Than Creations Dark "Bob" It's been well established that Mike Cooley is as enigmatic of a musician as they come. One day he's weaving a crooked tale over ancient blues guitar riffs, the next he emerges from the dark, turns on the bright stage lights, and delivers a classic, straightforward country song perfectly. "Bob" tells the story a man with a lot of dogs who mows his mother's lawn and is probably gay. It is genuinely hard to tell if Cooley is mocking the country genre's simplicity or is proving that he can deliver a solid, perfectly served country tune with clever lyrics to match. Here, Cooley plays with cliches and then tosses them out the window: we have beer and fishing, but we also have a potentially lonely dude, an aging mother, and a certain sense of frustration with the modern world.

Jason Isbell, unquestionably one of the best songwriters today, has grown out of the songwriting factory of the band the Drive By Truckers to create his own legacy as a solo artist and with his band, the 400 Unit. You can see my first post about the Truckers  here  (although I've expanded Isbell's best songs to include 12 in total).  Without further ado, here are the best 12 songs from Jason Isbell, presented in ( roughly ) chronological order: 1. "Never Gonna Change" This song is pure grit, as Isbell documents the sentiments of hard livin' southerners. This sense of muscle and menacing toughness is emphasized by the loudness of the song, as the pull of the lead chords let the band rev it's engines. Beneath this tough veneer, however, is a kid who was abused by his dad and whose brother is wrapped up in a life of crime.  2. "Outfit" It's astounding that Isbell had the capacity to write a song like "Outfit" while i...

In the Drive by Truckers universe, Patterson Hood is the sun and hills. That would make Mike Cooley the shadows and the moon. Cooley writes character sketches, wields a keen sense of observation and intelligence, and possesses some wicked country guitar skills in his back pocket. Yes, I'd like to discuss part two of the essential Drive By Truckers. I've already featured 7 songs from frontman Patterson Hood. Now it's Cooley's turn. First song? "First Air of Autumn". "First Air of Autumn" hits a melancholy fall day right on the head, featuring a sharp and rhythmic acoustic guitar, shuffling drums, and Cooley's muttering country vocals. He'll surprise you, as he sings like a man who has hidden talent and is coyly playing his cards. I almost image him as an uncle who one day picks up a guitar and sings a song that no one thought he was capable of. This song is pure emotion and nature, as Cooley uses his observations of the c...