In America, people make all kinds of silly and narrow-minded assumptions about musicians (and non-musicians, too) based on race, gender and other factors. Being from certain regions of the country — especially the South — can trigger a slew of knee-jerk expectations about the kinds of music people will make and perspectives they’ll have.
Drive-By Truckers are a band associated with Alabama, and they’ve embraced the challenge of probing the complexities of white Southern identity in their stoic, poetic Southern rock. They sound a little like Doug Sahm and Tom Petty, but they’ve got the storytelling gene of Bruce Springsteen. They’ve just finished celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band, and frontman Patterson Hood and crew are understandably proud to still be vital two decades into the rock life, with their 2016 record “American Band,” hitting the most political notes of their career.
While writing material for that album Hood also wrote a thoughtful op-ed piece about the South and the Confederate flag in the wake of the church massacre by a white supremacist in Charleston, S.C. in 2015. This is a band that has the heft, intelligence and nuance to tackle the subject of racism, history, heritage and how symbol can get hijacked.
Drive-By Truckers perform at Infinity Hall, 2 Front St., Hartford, Wednesday, July 26, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $29 to $64. 866-666-6306 and infinityhall.com.
