IT’S GET TO BE LIVE!

How to buy… Driveby Truckers live

ALABAMA ASS WHUPPIN’ TERMINUS, 2000

Just three years and two self-released albums into their tumultuous career, the Truckers proved themselves a formidable live act with this set of songs recorded around the South, featuring an early four-man lineup. Patterson Hood revels in some epic stage banter on “The Avon Lady”, and they put their own indelible stamp on The Jim Carroll Band’s “People Who Died”, which is still a live staple nearly 25 years later. 8/10

LIVE FROM AUSTIN, TX NEW WEST, 2009

The band deliver a fine performance that showcases the chemistry between Hood and Mike Cooley — and even gives bassist Shonna Tucker a chance to shine — but the crowd at this venerable showcase is perhaps a tad too well behaved. However, they do deliver what may be the definitive version of “18 Wheels Of Love”, Hood’s ode to his mom’s marriage to truck driver named Chester. 7/10

IT’S GREAT TO BE ALIVE! NEW WEST, 2015

The Truckers’ English Oceans tour culminated with a multi-night stand at the historic Fillmore West, and this triple-live album stands as both a monument to the their power as a live act and an exhaustive career retrospective. They draw from every corner of their sprawling catalogue, including two songs from their early band Adam’s House Cat. 9/10

PLAN 9 MUSIC, JULY 13, 2006 NEW WEST, 2021

While on a hellacious tour opening for The Black Crowes, the Truckers booked a gig at this Richmond, Virginia, record store and gave a show that’s both raucous and cathartic. To date, it’s the only official live recording featuring Jason Isbell, who delivers a moving cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Miracle Mile” – although he was out of the band in less than a year’s time. 9/10