Drive-By Truckers, 'Brighter Than Creation's Dark'

Backstory: Ever since the release of their ambitious 2001 double album “Southern Rock Opera,” the Drive-By Truckers have claimed a spot in the front ranks of American country-rock groups. Featuring a three-guitar attack reminiscent of their heroes, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the group has endured numerous lineup changes, including the recent departure of singer-songwriter-guitarist Jason Isbell, who’s pursuing a solo career. “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark,” the band’s first post-Isbell album, is also the first to feature vocals and songwriting from the group’s bassist (and Isbell’s ex-wife), Shonna Tucker.

Why you should care: Critics tend to gush, rightly or wrongly, over the songwriting prowess of every Trucker who’s ever stepped up to the mic. But it’s hard to deny the genius of the band’s most prolific member, Patterson Hood, whose whiskey-soaked vocals and vivid portraits of working class life in the Deep South are the heart and soul of the band.

Verdict: As if to overcompensate for Isbell’s departure, “Brighter Than Creation’s Dark” is the band’s most ambitious album since “Southern Rock Opera,” cramming 19 tracks and 75 minutes of music onto a single disc. But where “Rock Opera” and other Trucker classics like 1999’s “Pizza Deliverance” were full of piss and vinegar, “Creation’s Dark” is marked by a world-weariness that soon becomes tiresome. It’s too bad, because there’s a good Drive-By Truckers album buried in here somewhere—including a few tracks, like Hood’s harrowing “You and Your Crystal Meth” and singer-guitarist Mike Cooley’s Stonesy “3 Dimes Down,” that rank with the band’s best work.

X-Factor: Shonna Tucker, where have you been hiding all this time? The Truckers’ bassist wrote and sings lead on three tracks here, and they’re all excellent, especially “The Purgatory Line,” a gorgeous ballad with some of the album’s best lyrics (“Jesus walked on water/Where’d he get those shoes?”).

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