In a recent social media post, Drive-By Truckers frontman Patterson Hood stated the blunt truth of the music business: There is no retirement, and he’ll be out on tour until he can’t do it anymore. The Truckers are true road warriors: Saturday evening’s show at The Anthem with Deer Tick and Thelma & the Sleaze on the Charm & Decadence Tour was my third experience with them in 10 months, counting the Southern Rock Opera anniversary show last October and Patterson’s two-night solo tour stop at The Atlantis in March.
As many dates as they play, the Truckers never seem like they’re tired of doing it, and this recent show was as electric and charged as any I’ve seen them play.
As outspoken as the Truckers are, especially Hood and his fellow songwriter Mike Cooley, they don’t say a lot on stage, preferring to let the songs deliver the message, and this was the case again at The Anthem on August 2. But their shows are always political, and songs like Cooley’s “Ramon Casiano,” about the dark, racist heart at the center of the modern gun rights movement, took on an added dimension when played in the nation’s capital. It was immediately followed by Hood’s “Puttin’ People on the Moon,” which tells the story of the folks left behind while America pursues lofty goals like the space program. “Uncle Frank,” another Cooley tune, takes up similar themes of the America that gets life behind, telling the story of a farmer whose livelihood is destroyed by the damming of rivers to electrify the Tennessee Valley.
The Truckers always have a message, but they rock hard, too, no more so than in, fittingly, “Let There Be Rock.” The Truckers always tweak the lyrics when they play this song to pay tribute to a town’s bands: in this case, they mentioned DC hardcore legends Fugazi. Another song about music and the music businesses, “Road Cases,” was inspired by seeing used gear from the Atlanta Rhythm Section for sale.
Watch Drive-By Truckers perform “Let There Be Rock” live for WXPN on YouTube:
Even when the Truckers’ songs have a less explicitly political bent, they often focus on the lives of people struggling to make it on the margins — and choosing to write those songs is itself political. The personal struggles of characters in songs like “The Righteous Path” and “Maria’s Awful Disclosures” play out in a distinctive social and cultural context. Place, too, is important in their songs, most often their native South Native, appearing in titles, like “Goode’s Field Road,” “Lookout Mountain,” and “Grand Canyon.”
It’s fair to say that many of the Truckers’ songs are pretty bleak: The above-mentioned “Uncle Frank” ends with the suicide of the titular character, and Ramon Casiano is murdered at the age of 15. But there are glimmers of hope in their records and live sets, songs like the ebullient “Marry Me.”
The Trucker’s opened with “Primer Coat,” and, at the end of their set, were joined by Deer Tick’s John McCauley for “A World of Hurt” and a cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” The set also included “Sink Hole,” “Self Destructive Zones,” “The Driver,” “Made Up English Oceans,” “A Ghost to Most,” and “Women Without Whiskey.”
The show started with a raucous 30-minute by Nashville’s Thelma & the Sleaze, a queer, all-female band, who rock hard and pull no punches. They introduced one number as a song about “how you should never stab anyone out of love, but there are lots of other good reasons to.” After they song, they congratulated themselves, saying, “I don’t give myself enough credit for being deep. And wide. And wet.” That drew plenty of laughter and applause. Another song related an experience with a crackhead roommate in Chattanooga, after which they led the audience in chanting “Fuck Trump,” then pitching their merch, saying they need “Pokémon underwear and a haircut.” (I can sort of relate, as I lived next to a drug dealer at my first apartment in Austin, and my mom won’t shut up about how I need a haircut. I’ve thought about getting a tattoo of my grandmother’s name just to further push her buttons.) Their set started with “One Million Kisses,” and they were joined by Mike Patton, the bassist for the Truckers, to play a song for the first time live.
Hailing from Providence, Rhode Island, Deer Tick has shared the hard-living ways of the Truckers (though much of this is behind both bands) and been similarly categorized as alt-country. One of two covers in their hour-long set, Warren Zevon’s “Play It All Night Long,” has also been done by the Truckers. (The other cover song was Joe Cocker’s “Woman to Woman;” “Once in a Lifetime” is a Deer Tick original, not the Talking Heads song.)
Watch Deer Tick play “Once in a Lifetime” live in studio via YouTube:
For all their wildness, Deer Tick has a sweetness, too, especially in “Hope Is Big” and “Me and My Man,” about John’s dog, Reginald, who “really was a great dog.” “Mary Singletary” tackles interfaith relationships from the perspective of a confused teenage Catholic boy, and I have a sneaking suspicion it’s somewhat autobiographical. Deer Tick kicked things off with “Easy” and finished with “The Real Thing,” and they also played “If She Could Only See Me Now,” “Wasting Time,” “Forgiving Ties,” “Twenty Miles,” and “Jumpstarting.”
Altogether, the audience was treated to nearly four hours of excellent music, giving the audience more than their money’s worth. All three bands played loud and raw, but with plenty of heart and feeling. This is honest music, full of meaning, delivered with a lot of passion. I’ve seen all three acts before, so I came in with high expectations, and this show lived up to all of them. Somewhat surprisingly, the show ended around 11, which is on the early side for a Truckers’ show, but I didn’t mind: We’re all getting older, and those really late shows get a bit harder with every passing month; still, I left totally satisfied with this how and couldn’t have asked for more.
Here are some photos of Drive-By Truckers performing live at The Anthem on August 2, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of David LaMason.
Here are some photos of Deer Tick performing live at The Anthem on August 2, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of David LaMason.
Here are some photos of Thelma and the Sleaze performing live at The Anthem on August 2, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of David LaMason.
