PATTERSON HOOD
''MURDERING OSCAR (AND OTHER LOVE SONGS)''
JUNE 23 2009
52:39
1. Murdering Oscar /4:27
2. Pollyanna/Mike Cooley, Patterson Hood/ 4:37
3. Pride of the Yankees /4:16
4. I Understand Now /3:22
5. Screwtopia /4:35
6. Granddaddy /2:39
7. Belvedere /3:59
8. The Range War/Todd Rundgren /3:50
9. She's a Little Randy /4:28
10. Foolish Young Bastard /2:31
11. Heavy and Hanging /4:14
12. Walking Around Sense /5:13
13. Back of a Bible /4:28
Tracks By Hood, Except 2, 8
David Barbe /Bass, Guitar, Piano, Producer, Wurlitzer
Don Chambers /Banjo
Mike Cooley /Guitar
Scott Danbom /Fiddle, Harmony, Piano, Vocals
David Hood /Bass
Patterson Hood /Guitar, Piano, Producer, Vocals
Will Johnson /Guitar, Harmony, Vocals
Kevin Lane /Vocals (Background)
Frank MacDonnell /Guitar
Brad Morgan /Drums
John Neff /Pedal Steel
Shonna Tucker /Bass
REVIEW
by Mark Deming
Patterson Hood, the leader of the Drive-By Truckers, recorded his first solo album in 2001 as a series of rough four-track demos, and when Killers and Stars finally received an official release in 2004, it sounded like a set of songs too eccentric and too personal to fit in with the Truckers' hard-driving approach, even though the quality of the material was certainly consistent with what he'd created with the group. In many respects, Hood's second solo set, 2009's Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs), is also dominated by songs a little too odd and close to the vest to make it onto a DBT album, but if Killers and Stars sounded heartfelt but tentative, Murdering Oscar is confident and full-bodied, and not just because most of these songs include a full band rather than just Hood and his guitar. With each album, the Drive-By Truckers have shown a willingness to reach for deeper themes, and Murdering Oscar consistently cuts closer to the bone than Killers and Stars; the post-9/11 malaise of "Pride of the Yankees," the wasted but honest romantic plea of "Back of a Bible," and the title tune's tale of a morally elastic hitman are all trickier, more complex, and more satisfying than anything on Hood's solo debut, and even the relatively lightweight numbers like "Walking Around Sense" (addressed to the daughter of a seriously dysfunctional rock star) and "Foolish Young Bastard" show an impressive amount of weight and muscle. Hood may not have a silky-smooth voice, but he's learned to work wonders with the smoky texture of his instrument, and Hood has rarely been in better form as a singer than he is on this album, conjuring a beautifully rough-hewn blue-eyed soul. And with a band featuring DBT drummer Brad Morgan, Scott Danbom and Will Johnson from Centro-Matic, and Patterson's father, David Hood (longtime bassist with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section), and sympathetic production assistance from David Barbe, Murdering Oscar has a sound that's not entirely removed from the Drive-By Truckers, but possesses a personality and feel that sets it apart and well suits this set of dark but compassionate character studies. Presumably it's not enough for Patterson Hood that he fronts one of the best rock bands in America -- Murdering Oscar shows him stepping into an equally impressive solo career, but when the songs he's set aside for himself are this good, you can't blame the man for wanting to share.
BIOGRAPHY
by Mark Deming
Best known as leader of the Drive-By Truckers, songwriter Patterson Hood was born into a musical family, with his father (David Hood) serving as the longtime bassist for studio legends the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Patterson began writing songs at the tender age of eight, and by the time he was 14 he was playing guitar in a local rock band. While attending college in 1985, he formed the band Adam's House Cat with his friend Mike Cooley, and the group won Musician Magazine's Best Unsigned Band competition three years later. However, the band's regional acclaim didn't translate into significant commercial success, and its sole full-length album was never released.
After Adam's House Cat split up, Hood and Cooley continued to work together. They eventually formed the Drive-By Truckers in 1996, following a mutual relocation to Athens, GA. Drawing equal influence from country and rock & roll, the Drive-By Truckers released their first album, Gangstabilly, in 1998. However, it was with their ambitious double-disc set, 2001's Southern Rock Opera, that garnered the Truckers their first dose of nationwide critical acclaim. Southern Rock Opera's success as an independent release helped earn the a band a contract with Lost Highway Records, which soon reissued the album on a wider scale. After the label had a falling out with the DBTs over their somber follow-up, Decoration Day, the group bought the album back from Lost Highway and, instead, partnered with the independent label New West Records. Decoration Day was then released to rave reviews in 2003.
Throughout the bulk of the Drive-By Truckers' career, Hood also wrote music that didn't suit the band's muscular stomp. In 2001, as the Truckers were completing Southern Rock Opera, Hood -- who by his own admission was going through a difficult period, having weathered a divorce and some personal difficulties with his bandmates -- recorded a set of acoustic demos that were considerably darker than most of his compositions for the group. Hood pressed up a CD of the acoustic sessions, titled the collection Killers and Stars, and sold copies at his periodic solo shows, with the album described as "a work in progress." In 2004, Hood enlisted the help of producer David Barbe, who mastered the records before New West gave Killers and Stars a proper release. Hood returned to the solo game several years later with Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs), which found him partnering with his father for the first time on record. 2012 saw the release of Heat Lightning Rumbles In The Distance, a third solo album that enlisted the talents of all of his DBT bandmates. The album began as a novel about a particularly dark time in Hood's life, but when inspiration to write dried up, he shifted the themes of the book over to these songs.
''MURDERING OSCAR (AND OTHER LOVE SONGS)''
JUNE 23 2009
52:39
1. Murdering Oscar /4:27
2. Pollyanna/Mike Cooley, Patterson Hood/ 4:37
3. Pride of the Yankees /4:16
4. I Understand Now /3:22
5. Screwtopia /4:35
6. Granddaddy /2:39
7. Belvedere /3:59
8. The Range War/Todd Rundgren /3:50
9. She's a Little Randy /4:28
10. Foolish Young Bastard /2:31
11. Heavy and Hanging /4:14
12. Walking Around Sense /5:13
13. Back of a Bible /4:28
Tracks By Hood, Except 2, 8
David Barbe /Bass, Guitar, Piano, Producer, Wurlitzer
Don Chambers /Banjo
Mike Cooley /Guitar
Scott Danbom /Fiddle, Harmony, Piano, Vocals
David Hood /Bass
Patterson Hood /Guitar, Piano, Producer, Vocals
Will Johnson /Guitar, Harmony, Vocals
Kevin Lane /Vocals (Background)
Frank MacDonnell /Guitar
Brad Morgan /Drums
John Neff /Pedal Steel
Shonna Tucker /Bass
REVIEW
by Mark Deming
Patterson Hood, the leader of the Drive-By Truckers, recorded his first solo album in 2001 as a series of rough four-track demos, and when Killers and Stars finally received an official release in 2004, it sounded like a set of songs too eccentric and too personal to fit in with the Truckers' hard-driving approach, even though the quality of the material was certainly consistent with what he'd created with the group. In many respects, Hood's second solo set, 2009's Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs), is also dominated by songs a little too odd and close to the vest to make it onto a DBT album, but if Killers and Stars sounded heartfelt but tentative, Murdering Oscar is confident and full-bodied, and not just because most of these songs include a full band rather than just Hood and his guitar. With each album, the Drive-By Truckers have shown a willingness to reach for deeper themes, and Murdering Oscar consistently cuts closer to the bone than Killers and Stars; the post-9/11 malaise of "Pride of the Yankees," the wasted but honest romantic plea of "Back of a Bible," and the title tune's tale of a morally elastic hitman are all trickier, more complex, and more satisfying than anything on Hood's solo debut, and even the relatively lightweight numbers like "Walking Around Sense" (addressed to the daughter of a seriously dysfunctional rock star) and "Foolish Young Bastard" show an impressive amount of weight and muscle. Hood may not have a silky-smooth voice, but he's learned to work wonders with the smoky texture of his instrument, and Hood has rarely been in better form as a singer than he is on this album, conjuring a beautifully rough-hewn blue-eyed soul. And with a band featuring DBT drummer Brad Morgan, Scott Danbom and Will Johnson from Centro-Matic, and Patterson's father, David Hood (longtime bassist with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section), and sympathetic production assistance from David Barbe, Murdering Oscar has a sound that's not entirely removed from the Drive-By Truckers, but possesses a personality and feel that sets it apart and well suits this set of dark but compassionate character studies. Presumably it's not enough for Patterson Hood that he fronts one of the best rock bands in America -- Murdering Oscar shows him stepping into an equally impressive solo career, but when the songs he's set aside for himself are this good, you can't blame the man for wanting to share.
BIOGRAPHY
by Mark Deming
Best known as leader of the Drive-By Truckers, songwriter Patterson Hood was born into a musical family, with his father (David Hood) serving as the longtime bassist for studio legends the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Patterson began writing songs at the tender age of eight, and by the time he was 14 he was playing guitar in a local rock band. While attending college in 1985, he formed the band Adam's House Cat with his friend Mike Cooley, and the group won Musician Magazine's Best Unsigned Band competition three years later. However, the band's regional acclaim didn't translate into significant commercial success, and its sole full-length album was never released.
After Adam's House Cat split up, Hood and Cooley continued to work together. They eventually formed the Drive-By Truckers in 1996, following a mutual relocation to Athens, GA. Drawing equal influence from country and rock & roll, the Drive-By Truckers released their first album, Gangstabilly, in 1998. However, it was with their ambitious double-disc set, 2001's Southern Rock Opera, that garnered the Truckers their first dose of nationwide critical acclaim. Southern Rock Opera's success as an independent release helped earn the a band a contract with Lost Highway Records, which soon reissued the album on a wider scale. After the label had a falling out with the DBTs over their somber follow-up, Decoration Day, the group bought the album back from Lost Highway and, instead, partnered with the independent label New West Records. Decoration Day was then released to rave reviews in 2003.
Throughout the bulk of the Drive-By Truckers' career, Hood also wrote music that didn't suit the band's muscular stomp. In 2001, as the Truckers were completing Southern Rock Opera, Hood -- who by his own admission was going through a difficult period, having weathered a divorce and some personal difficulties with his bandmates -- recorded a set of acoustic demos that were considerably darker than most of his compositions for the group. Hood pressed up a CD of the acoustic sessions, titled the collection Killers and Stars, and sold copies at his periodic solo shows, with the album described as "a work in progress." In 2004, Hood enlisted the help of producer David Barbe, who mastered the records before New West gave Killers and Stars a proper release. Hood returned to the solo game several years later with Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs), which found him partnering with his father for the first time on record. 2012 saw the release of Heat Lightning Rumbles In The Distance, a third solo album that enlisted the talents of all of his DBT bandmates. The album began as a novel about a particularly dark time in Hood's life, but when inspiration to write dried up, he shifted the themes of the book over to these songs.
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