The Unraveling Tracklist
The Unraveling, the Drive-By Truckers' twelfth studio album, does not hold back when it comes to criticizing the changes occurring in the United States. This is their first new album in 3 ½ years (the longest space between new DBT albums ever) and the album is shaped by those years, which were “among the most tumultuous our country has ever seen.” According to the band’s website:
The duality between the generally positive state of affairs within the band and the turbulent world outside informed the writing of this album to the core.“ The band’s fury at the country’s state of affairs is evident in the songs, whose subjects include the border crisis, mass shootings, and the opioid epidemic.
In other words, they’re outraged, and they’re not afraid to show it.
“The Unraveling” Q&A
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What have the artists said about this album?
One of the band’s lead singers, Patterson Hood, told the Wall Street Journal,
“I didn’t want to disguise it [his disgust with the state of the USA] in flowery, poetic language. It’s not a poetic time.”
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Why did the band decide not to change direction after *American Band*?
On the DBT website, Patterson Hood explains why the band, who had originally planned to make a different type of album after the 2018 release of their single “The Perilous Night,” elected to keep singing about serious themes:
The past few years have seen an uptick in school shootings, church shootings, racial violence, suicides and overdoses, border violence, and an assault on so many things that we all hold dear. They’re literally putting children in cages. Writing silly love songs just seemed the height of privilege.
