Truckers w/7” for Rec Store Day

"A stream of conscious wallop of redneck beat poetry": The Truckers make high art on their Cooley-centric special single, available only at indie record shops for Record Store Day, April 17. Jeezus, look at that sleeve.

By Andy Tennille

April is already a month chock-full of holidays, what with April Fools Day kicking off the month, MerleFest and JazzFest winding it down and that Sunday in between when that bunny shits chocolate eggs on everyone's front lawn.

In the midst of all that revelry, vinyl geeks and rock stars will unite on April 17 for Record Store Day, the annual celebration in support of record stores around the world. Check here to see what some of your favorite artists are saying about Record Store Day, and here to see if your local shop is participating.

Drive-By Truckers are ardent supporters of record stores worldwide, so it would make sense - what with their new album, The Big To-Do, issued a couple of weeks ago - that the Athens, GA rockers might have something special up their sleeve for this year's festivities.

So what's it gonna be - a free acoustic performance at Schoolkids in Athens? Signing copies of their new album at Amoeba in San Francisco? A special screening of "The Secret to A Happy Ending," a documentary about the band being released this spring?

 How about the much-anticipated solo debut of The Stroker Ace, aka co-founding guitarist Mike Cooley!

"Coming soon," Cooley told BLURT in a recent sit down. "It's done."

Though at the time tight-lipped on the details, Cooley said the band will be issuing the special release on April 17 in time for Record Store Day. "It's not an album, it's not a full-length record. It's not even an EP," he added. "There's no way I can describe it. You'll think I'm fucking with you if I start describing it. You'll just have to see. The only thing I'll tell you is this - it's high art."

"It's definitely that," confirmed Truckers frontman Patterson Hood with a laugh. "It's so high art that John Neff plays the sitar."

True their word, the news arrived this weekend of the Truckers' special Record Store Day release, pictured above. Wow. That's some feather boa, Cooley. Hood sent out a missive to fans explaining the project:

From Patterson Hood:

We are proud to be a part of this year's Record Store Day. Like the Bald Eagle and Healthcare Reform we almost let it get away before pulling out the stops and saving them in the nick of time. The Bald Eagle has returned in fine form, but independent record stores are STILL an endangered species. Every year more and more of these precious national resources are shuttered and closed. Just last month I heard that one of my favorites is in dire straits.

This year we will be releasing a very special single for Record Store Day, but first let me take you back in time to January of 2009. Bush was still in the White House and Sully was an anonymous pilot working his job. Drive-By Truckers were toiling away in the studio beginning what would become their 10th album. One night a strange alignment of stars interacted with the perfect chemical component setting off a chain reaction of events, fitfully captured on 2" magnetic tape stock as the wily Producer handed over a vintage handheld microphone to a celebratory Mike Cooley during the playback of a new instrumental Shonna Tucker composition which said band had just duly nailed in a fit of R&B perfection never beheld before and WHALAH!!!

Almost everyone in that room knew that magic had just occurred. A stream of conscious wallop of redneck beat poetry. A channeling of the early morning rant of a Georgia taxi driver concerning the closing of another local industry into a form both compelling and idyllic in its inspiration, articulation and execution. YOUR WOMAN IS A LIVIN' THING became nearly everyone in the band's favorite song of the 30+ songs we recorded last year. Would it go on The Big To-Do or perhaps be the fitting end to Go-Go Boots?

"Neither," said Mike Cooley. "No one will ever hear it but us. It's for us and us only".

But Goddamn, Cooley!

"NO".

Months of negotiation (much like healthcare) but the stubborn NO held until...

An eleventh hour compromise:

See, Cooley loves Record Stores too. He deemed that YOUR WOMAN IS A LIVIN' THING be released on vinyl and vinyl only to independent record stores to celebrate that most special of nationally recognized days. He was so excited, he even went home and wrote and recorded a B-Side (JUST MAYBE) just for the occasion.

BLURT has been told that in addition to their Record Store Day release, the Drive-By Truckers are rumored to be doing an in-store on April 17 at the mighty Harvest Records, located in west Asheville, NC. (The band is in Asheville the 16^th and 17^th for a two-night run at the Orange Peel venue.) Check out the store on the web at www.harvest-records.com.