(ATO Records)

www.atorecords.com

The Drive-By Truckers are back to kicking ass. After working through the emotional doldrums of line-up transition with the moody yet brilliant 2008 album Brighter Than Creation's Dark, the band is once again firing on all cylinders. Patterson Hood and company declared The Big To-Do would be a full-on rock record-in line with the band's eardrum-punishing live shows-and they weren't kidding. The album is filled with big riffs and sweet hooks, and frankly it's the band's best collection of songs since the mid 2000s heyday of Decoration Day and the Dirty South.

Hood and main songwriting counterpart Mike Cooley are front porch scribes who both know how to unearth the down and dirty of Dixie's underbelly without cliché.

Hood visually sketches seedy rural characters better than anyone, especially in the messy redneck love triangle of "Drag the Lake Charlie." It also wouldn't be a proper Truckers' record without a hair-raising murder tale, and this one comes from the creepy shuffle of "The Wig He Made Her Wear." Hood also takes on endless strip mall commercialization in "After the Scene Dies," and "This Fucking Job" is a blue-collar anthem that's perfect for the current economic shit storm and sure to be a fist-pumping show stopper for years to come.

Cooley manages to infiltrate the mind of a stripper in "Birthday Boy." He also hits a high-charged ‘50s retro groove on the politically charged "Get Downtown."

The album also has two unexpected standouts from bassist Shonna Tucker. "I Told You So" is amped up old school pop that Buddy Holly who have been proud to record. While "You Got Another" is an ethereal piano ballad that's a quick breath of fresh air in the middle of all the distortion-like chasing a shot of whiskey with a kiss from Patsy Cline.

Standout Tracks: "Birthday Boy," "Wig He Made Her Wear," "You Got Another" JEDD FERRIS