Welcome 2 Club XIII

Description

As the band embarks on its 26th year, Welcome 2 Club XIII stands out significantly from their previous albums. Produced by David Barbe, a longtime collaborator of Drive-By Truckers, and recorded primarily at his studio in Athens, Georgia, Welcome 2 Club XIII took shape during three frenetic days in the summer of 2021—an extraordinary feat considering the band had no prior intention of making a new album. While Welcome 2 Club XIII has its moments of real-time observation, most of the album serves as a coming-of-age memoir. “Cooley and I have been playing together for 37 years now,” Hood points out. “That first band may have failed miserably commercially, but I’m really proud of what we did back then. It has a lot to do with what we ended up becoming.” And while Drive-By Truckers never shies away from highlighting the many shades of sorrow that accompany aging, Welcome 2 Club XIII ultimately embodies a certain world-weary joie de vivre.