While he’s best known as the frontman of the Drive-By Truckers, Patterson also has a substantial and highly respected career as a solo artist. Earlier this year, he released his fourth album, Exploding Trees and Airplane Screams, to critical acclaim. At a recent sold-out show, he made the first of two back-to-back appearances at The Atlantis, sharing songs and stories.
The album, Patterson explained, is a “coming of age story” from when he was seven years to the age of 30, when he left his hometown of Muscle Shoals to move to Athens, Georgia. The song “‘Disappear’ would’ve fit the album if I hadn’t already recorded [it,]” he said at The Atlantis on March 22.
His parents were young (his father is David Hood, who played bass in the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section) and had “wild parties.” Patterson learned to make himself invisible, and snuck out of his bedroom during these parties. At one, he drank a beer someone had left sitting around and passed out. His grandmother, growing concerned when no one answered the phone, came over to check on them, and “was pissed” when she found him.
While I can’t relate to having wild parents — mine were pretty buttoned up — I did relate to what Hood said about how making himself disappear “didn’t work at school.” I tried to be invisible at school, too, but the bullies always managed to find me. It was rough.
“The Van Pelt Parties,” he explained, is “basically the same story. Different party, different house.” Patterson had a babysitter, Wendy Van Pelt, who was a painter, and she can be spotted in the documentary about the Rolling Stones’ trip to Muscle Shoals to record.
Stream “The Van Pelt Parties” by Patterson Hood on YouTube:
I also connected with what Hood had to say about the song “Pinocchio.” He described himself as “a little obsessive,” (and “a weird kid”) and one of the things he became obsessed with as a kid was this Disney movie. In those days, before home video, if you wanted to see a movie, you had to go the theater. Fortunately, members of his extended family humored him and took him to see it many, many times. I was fortunate to be born after home video became a thing, so I was able to watch Star Wars and Voltron as much as I wanted without having to be taken to the theater. When he had his own kids — which he didn’t until he was past 40 — Patterson hoped to share Pinocchio with them However, both of them “hate it,” and they think “it’s the creepiest fucking thing. Which it is.”
Introducing “Last Hope,” Patterson talked about his creative process. “I started writing songs when I was eight years old.” He described the process as raising an antenna which lets him receive the songs, and he writes them down. “I really don’t understand it, it just happens.” Unfortunately, when the antenna’s out, everyday life stuff — like picking up the kids — tends to get ignored. I’m the same way — I’ve learned not to try to cook dinner if I’m writing.
When he was growing up, Patterson often spent weekends on his great uncle’s farm. Near the farm was an old plantation house that had been owned by a cousin of Andrew Jackson, “so you know the guy was a real asshole.” As political as he is, his comments here about how the house was likely built by slave labor were as political as he got Saturday night. When he was five, the house burned down, so he only really knows it from pictures. But the columns continued, to this day, to stand. Hood’s great uncle would take him on drives down a winding road that led by the ruins, across what he called a “ghost bridge,” which he described as “creepy as shit.”
Another place he spent a lot of time was his maternal grandparent’s mid-century modern house. Across the street lived a woman named Anne Coldiron. She came from money but had mental illness that resulted in her being hospitalized multiple times and getting electroshock therapy. Because of her mental illness, her brother had power of attorney and controlled the money. She also didn’t drive, despite which she would buy a new Oldsmobile every three years. Patterson’s grandparents would take Anne around in those Oldsmobiles to run errands, and he learned to set the fader to blast the speakers so he could listen to the music he loved, like Pink Floyd and Lynyrd Skynyrd. These experiences inspired “Miss Coldiron’s Oldsmobile.”
Hood opened his set with the title track from the new album, “Exploding Trees,” followed by “A Werewolf and a Girl,” a duet with Lydia Loveless, who played bass and opened the show.
Watch the official lyric video for “A Werewolf and a Girl” by Patterson Hood with Lydia Loveless on YouTube:
The set included some of his older solo work, like “Murdering Oscar” and “Uncle Disney,” and the Truckers’ anthem “Heathens,” as well as “The Pool House,” “Heavy and Hanging,” and “Pollyanna.” He closed the set — if you could say he did — with “Airplane Screams,” but didn’t get through the rigamarole of leaving the stage for an encore. It was a bit of a surprise to hear him do Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” but it was a lot of fun. He finished the evening with “Back of a Bible” and “World of Hurt.”
The cherry on top of the evening was getting to see Lydia Loveless’s excellent opening set. I love her work, and this is just my third time getting to see her live; the first was when she opened for the Truckers a couple years ago at the 9:30 Club. She started things off with “Ghost,” followed by “Same To You,” which is about “not being on tour with Patterson Hood.” “Accolades” is part of a project where she’s releasing a song every month on Bandcamp. Her set also included “Runaway,” “Poor Boy,” “French Restaurant,” “Toothache,” and “Sex and Money.” She finished with “Verlaine Shot Rimbaud.”
Lydia’s voice sounded incredible, and her songs are outstanding. She’s still young, and I hope to see her break through to even bigger levels of success. Her intelligent songs were a good fit with Hood’s: Both make muscular rock and roll with heart and brains.
Here are some photos of Patterson Hood performing at The Atlantis on March 22, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of David LaMason.
Here are some photos of Lydia Loveless opening Patterson Hood at The Atlantis on March 22, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of David LaMason.
