Personnel: Jason Isbell (vocals, electric 12-string guitar, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, Wurlitzer organ, background vocals); Shonna Tucker (vocals); Mike Cooley (banjo, harmonica); David Barbe (piano, Fender Rhodes piano, background vocals); Patterson Hood (piano); Clay Leverett (background vocals).

Additional personnel: David Barbe, Clay Leverett, The Minor Hill Singers, The State Line Chain Gang.

Audio Mixers: David Barbe; John Agnello.

Liner Note Author: Patterson Hood.

Recording information: Chase Park Transduction, Athens, GA; The Legendary Fame Recording Studio, Muscle Shoals, AL.

Director: David Barbe.

Photographers: Adam Smith; Patrick Hood.

After recording SOUTHERN ROCK OPERA--a two-act, two-disc epic about growing up in the American South--and then following it up with 2003's equally lauded DECORATION DAY, one might think Drive-By Truckers would be out of energy. But nothing seems tired about 2004's THE DIRTY SOUTH. In an age when some artists are building a glamorous "redneck" image, Drive-By Truckers convey realistic, hard-hitting truths about life in the margins of the South.

Here the Truckers unveil a dark, lean roots-rock set redolent of whiskey, low-income housing, and kudzu vines, as they spin narratives about war veterans ("The Sands of Iwo Jima"), steel workers ("The Day John Henry Died"), and convicts ("The Boys from Alabama"). With the exception of a couple of hook-filled, sing-along rockers, the band favors portraits of struggle. "Puttin' People on the Moon" depicts a character working at department store and selling drugs to support his family, while "Cottonseed" is a confession from a murderous outlaw. There are traces of Merle Haggard's mythos, Neil Young's vulnerability, and the Southern rock of Lynyrd Skynyrd here, but THE DIRTY SOUTH also boasts an integrity and individuality that demands to be heard.