Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance by Patterson Hood

My affinity for The Drive By Truckers is well known. Therefore when I tell you that this solo record by lead singer Patterson Hood is wonderful you will not be surprised. I accept that I find many albums that I find worth raving about as excellent.

What is most interesting is the while 95 percent of new music is schlock, the five percent that is good is, in some cases, very good. With pop radio now an abyss of rap and tween acts one does have to work a little bit to find music worth hearing.

Fortunately one can find their way. Rolling Stone and NPR frequently give pre release streaming of recordings. In fact this album by Hood is currently being streamed by Rolling Stone.


The album is not a big stretch for Hood, not far from the Drive By persona, If anything, perhaps the music is a little softer, there are none of the loud, outlandish, drinking, bad boy, songs one often finds on a Drive By album. I do like those songs, Let There Be Rock is a scorcher. Still I think most of the fans of the Truckers would admit that it is the talk songs and the songs like Angels and Fuselage that keep us coming back. With this in mind Patterson Hood delivers in spades on this album.

" She's so sweet, she rots my teeth, every time I kiss her" is a memorable line from Better Off Without. That my friends is a pretty damn good line, not one you are going to hear on your hit radio station. The song is brilliant.

For those of us who put Three Alabama Icons as one of the highlights of Southern Rock Opera then another talk song is welcome. ( untold pretties ) is Hood talking about his reminiscences of growing up in Northern Alabama, the loss of his grandfather, the plan unknown even to the the protagonist of making an escape ending with the line " You cannot only carry Hell around so long before it's a drag." Again not a cookie cutter lyric. For those of us old enough to remember when REM was on top of the world Hood's voice recalls the talk song Belong they recorded in the nineties.

After the Damage is a pretty song in which he bemoans his lover leaving him, " after the baggage and babies." Some pretty strong backing vocals from Kelly Hogan highlight this song.

The title song is one you need to listen to on a Saturday afternoon before you start drinking or a Sunday morning after you have. With his sing drawl Patterson Hood can tell a story like few people in music. Hood tells how the " ghosts' in his old families house " are a comfort to him." We all have ghosts.

You are not going to hear a single from Patterson Hood but perhaps the most accessible song on the record is Come Back Little Star. Again featuring Hogan on backup vocals, Hood talks to a past lady friend " you always had a drink in your hand but your liver ain't what it used to be." Begging her to come back and take him with her and telling ' that the dreams we made leave him lying here lonely."

All in all this is as strong an album as you will hear this year. The singer's voice is unique, a cross between a drawl and a croak. He would get tossed off Idol for sure which goes to show that singing is about so much more than voice, something those shows often miss.

Listen. Learn. Love. Patterson Hood delivers a home run.