After a healthy number of line-up changes over the years, Atlanta-via-Alabama alternative country rockers Drive-By Truckers are now in the third decade of their existence. Renowned for abstract, lengthy yet distinctively earthy records going back to the late ‘90s, they’ve gone more explicitly political than ever before with their 11^th studio album, American Band. Normally, this style would seem somehow beneath this extremely literate and evocative band, but in 2016, this terrifyingly existential election year, it feels right.

Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley’s songwriting is much more blunt and to-the-point than usual, with their method of filtering politics and messages through fictional stories steeped in Southern imagery now largely replaced by direct sloganeering and prose. That change is signalled right from the off on ‘Ramon Casiano’, re-telling the story of a Mexican youth gunned down by a future NRA President in 1931, and therefore plugging the record straight into America’s current national argument about immigration, particularly in light of the violent posturing of Donald Trump. ‘Guns Of Umpqua’, directly referencing last year’s shootings at a community college in Oregon, is a typical example, with Hood’s song told from the POV of a veteran trying to protect the kids in a classroom.

But although there’s a new directness, Hood and Cooley are still literate and avoid platitudes and placations in their lyrics. ‘Surrender Under Protest’, a gentle piano-based rocker, features lovely poetry in lines like “from the comfort zone of history / on the lips of trusted lips of loved ones / to the wounded fragile minds of angry youth”. Contrast that with the album’s centrepiece, the lengthy rockabilly shuffle of ‘What It Means’ which questions mass media and public consciousness with topical lines like “must have done something wrong / else why would he have run?”

Musically, American Band is predominantly built from comparatively straightforward, fuzzed-up country rockers that take their cues from ‘70s Stones. Hood and Cooley’s laid-back, accomplished guitar soloing is endlessly pleasing to listen to, embedded as it is in warmly produced music that’s just scuffed enough to scan as ‘indie’ and countrified, but most definitely not lo-fi either. Even if the politics is not your bag, there’s plenty to enjoy in the likes of the soulful shuffle of ‘Ever South’, the gentle acoustics of ‘Once They Banned Imagine’, and the anthemic Southern rock of ‘Filthy And Fried’.

Bands with more than ten albums under their belt and more than 20 years of recording rarely sound this invigorated, and, while some long-term fans may be slightly thrown by the directness of American Band, it’s good to hear Drive-By Truckers choosing to communicate their message unambiguously. (7/10) (Ed Biggs)

Listen to American Band here via Spotify, and tell us what you think below!