Southern Rock Opera or The Dirty South? Ask any Drive-By Truckers fan to name the band’s recorded masterpiece and you’ll likely get a spirited debate. On Tuesday, the group makes their own case for the latter with the announcement of a massive package titled The Complete Dirty South. Due June 16, The Complete Dirty South revisits the 2004 concept album about the South and its complicated figures with bonus tracks, remixed songs, and even new vocals on “Puttin’ People on the Moon” and “The Sands of Iwo Jima.” (The group’s last album of new material was 2022’s Welcome 2 Club XIII.)
Originally released with 14 tracks, the reissue includes 17, with the addition of “Goode’s Field Road” (which appeared in a different form on 2008’s Brighter Than Creation’s Dark), the Jason Isbell-sung “TVA,” and “The Great Car Dealer War.” The Complete Dirty South package comes with a 32-page book of original and new liner notes, track-by-track commentary, and unearthed photos. There’s also new artwork by Wes Freed, whose Sothern gothic artwork became a signature of the Truckers’ albums. (Freed died last year.)
The 2004 lineup of the band included Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley, Jason Isbell, Shonna Tucker, and Brad Morgan. Isbell left the group in 2007 to launch his solo career and often plays songs he wrote for The Dirty South at his own shows, including “TVA,” “Danko/Manuel,” and “Never Gonna Change.”
In tandem with the announcement, DBT have released the new-vocal version of “Puttin’ People on the Moon.” “We recorded it in Muscle Shoals (in one take) in January 2004, but by the time the record came out, I had already begun to regret the vocal take, which attempted some things I hadn’t yet really learned how to do at that time,” Hood says in a statement. “When we were given the opportunity to do a ‘Directors Cut’ version of what many consider to be our masterpiece, I wanted to take another stab at that vocal and nailed what I believe to be a definitive version of it in one take. One that truly captures the inherent anger and despair of the song as written and played by the band. The scream at the end might be the most primal recording of my voice anywhere in our catalog and I’m very proud to have this version out there after all these years. The Complete Dirty South might indeed be DBT’s masterpiece.”
The Complete Dirty South will be released via New West Records (who originally released The Dirty South in 2004) digitally, on double CD, and two records on “Reposado”-colored vinyl. There’s also a “Whiskey”-colored vinyl release with a lithograph signed by the band.
The Complete Dirty South Track Listing:
1. “Where The Devil Don’t Stay”
2. “Tornadoes”
3. “The Day John Henry Died”
4. “Puttin’ People on the Moon” (remixed & featuring new vocals)
5. “Goode’s Field Road” (remixed)
6. “Carl Perkins’ Cadillac”
7. “TVA “
8. “The Sands of Iwo Jima” (remixed & featuring new vocals)
9. “Danko/Manuel”
10. “The Boys from Alabama”
11. “The Buford Stick”
12. “Never Gonna Change”
13. “Cottonseed”
14. “The Great Car Dealer War” (remixed)
15. “Daddy’s Cup”
16. “Lookout Mountain”
17. “Goddamn Lonely Love”