Have You Ever Seen The Blue Ridge Mountains Boy…

 DBT’s first of what I would guess to be many festival dates over the summer was announced today as the DBT Rock Show will be hitting the Floyd Fest Stage on Friday July 27th. Some of the other artists playing the four day festival between July 26th-29th are Jackson Browne,Allison Krauss And Union Station,Leftover Salmon,Gary Clark Jr,Ricky Skaggs, Dawes,and a whole lot more. See the official Floyd Fest site for the complete line up and ticket information.

April Is The Most Rocking Month…

April Rock Shows were announced today for the East Coast. The tour starts in Cooley’s backyard of Birmingham before a nice little perfect timing run through Florida,two shows in Virginia,and points in between before winding up on Record Store Day in Atlanta. Tickets go on sale today at noon via baseline ticketing.

Fri Apr 06 Birmingham,AL Workplay Theatre
Sat Apr 07 Birmingham,AL Workplay Theatre
Tue Apr 10 Pensacola,FL Vinyl Muic Theatre
Wed Apr 11  Gainesvllle,FL Florida Theatre
Thu Apr 12 Tampa,FL Ritz Theatre
Fri Apr 13  Orlando,FL The Beacham
Sat Apr 14  Charleston,SC Music Farm
Tue Apr 17 Charlottesville,VA Jefferson Theatre
Wed Apr 18 Norfolk,VA The Norva
Thu Apr 19 Chapel Hill,NC Cat’s Cradle
Fri Apr 20 Wilmington,NC Greenfield Amphitheatre
Sat Apr 21 Atlanta,GA Tabernacle

Good Ideas Always Start With A Full Glass…

I never realized how well these two songs really go together. Like Stacey eventually told that preacher to fuck off,moved the hell out of Tennessee,went to California with some big dreams,maybe got a job doing some fornication and came back dead. Well if that’s a stretch for you because it is for me with maybe just a glimmer of truth it is always nice to hear Too Much Sex(Too Little Jesus) and Pulaski especially back to back. Both oldie goldies in the DBT cannon and both sounding so good on the middle night of the recent 40 Watt stand.

The Pedal Steel Conjures How I Feel…

Patterson,The Ezy-B,and Jay Gonzalez along with some help from The Futurebirds took to the rooftops of Athens to protest the building of a new Walmart a stones throw away from downtown. Standing on top of Wuxtry Records for a live run through of After It’s Gone not only did they pass the audition but more importantly they took the cause right into the heart of downtown. As much as I loved the first video what we have here is powerful and documents the vibrancy of downtown Athens as much as anything can. In a little over a day After It’s Gone has received some nice press from Billboard magazine and an interview with Patterson on MTV Buzz. After It’s Gone has also been added to the rotation one of my favorite satellite radio stations Sirius XM’s Outlaw Country. Learn more about the issue and download the song and video of After It’s Gone at Protect Downtown Athens.

Protect Downtown Athens – Patterson Hood and the Downtown 13…

Lifted with pride and permission from the DBT Facebook Page:

Y’ALL:

As some of Y’all might know, an out of town developer is attempting to build a huge mixed use development right next door to our beautiful downtown Athens. The location is a prime piece of land nestled up between our historic downtown and our river, greenway and planned Rail to Trails development.

I’m not going to get into the ramifications of all of that here, except to say it presents a tremendous set of missed opportunities and poses a host of negative implications for our beloved downtown and the local businesses that reside there.

I have written a new song about my love for this town that has given me so much and the threat that I see to our very way of life here. That might sound overly-dramatic, but I travel around this country a lot and I can tell you that what we have here is very unique and can not be taken for granted. Many of our friends who travel every year to Athens to see our annual 40 Watt / Nuci’s Space Homecoming can vouch for what a special place this is.

I recorded the song at The 40 Watt Club during our weekend there backed by members of DBT. Then some very special friends from our music community pitched in and came to Chase Park Transduction to contribute some magic. 13 players, ranging from over 30 years of Athens Music history joined in and our friend Jason Thrasher filmed it.

We have launched an amazing new site with lots more information:

http://protectdowntownathens.com/

We are offering DBT fans the song early right now at drivebytruckers.com.

The video can also be seen here.

Tomorrow, I would love for y’all to Tweet (@protectathens) and Facebook and spread it around to as many people as you think might enjoy it.  We are trying to do this tomorrow in a concerted effort.

And please check out the Protect Downtown Athens website to get the facts ( and nothing but the facts) about what is going on in our beloved Athens.

Thanks Always,

Patterson Hood

Taking A Break From Them Pretty Road Cases(If Only For One Night)….

Coming up this Thursday night at the Fabulous 40 Watt ThunderCrack will be performing a set of Springsteen songs. At this point you might be going cool but who the hell is Thundercrack? Consisting of members of DBT’s road crew and also including Jay Gonzalez and The Ezy-B’s twin brother Ted Morgan(The T-B) Thundercrack will compete in the Nuci’s Space sponsored Athens Business Rocks battle of the bands. If you are not in Athens you can vote for ThunderCrack online by making a donation here. If you are going to the show at the 40 Watt make sure you tell folks at the door you are there to see ThunderCrack to help them win.

Thundercrack is

Matt DeFilippis(pictured)   Damon Scott

Matt Etgen   Craig Lieske

Paul McHugh  Jay Gonzalez

Ted Morgan   Big Guy Cole Taylor

Phil Carpenter

 

Around The 40 Watt Light…

What we have here is more evidence that the recent DBT Homecoming was indeed one of the best ever. Check this amazing playing by Neff during The Tough Sell,some just exactly right bottom end from David Barbe and The Ezy-B and Jay Gonzalez in all the right places and that’s even before you get to get to Patterson and Cooley. This band right here and the way they play right now is sure a lot to be excited about. Also big thanks to our 3DD filmers and everyone involved in making this video look AND SOUND so damn good. More to come.

Always Print The Legend…

From the 101st DBT show in Athens. One of my favorite moments from the 2012 Homecoming run.

Yes He’s Got A Video…

Jay Gonzalez just put out an awesome new solo record called Mess Of Happiness. Check out the tunes for free on The Jay Gonzalez Record Player and if you like it the whole record it is available to download for only six bucks(red bathrobe not included). I was lucky enough to pick up a hard copy of the CD last weekend in Athens and being a big fan of the power pop it hit my sweet spot.Y’all also have to check out the video which is pure internet gold or guys in red bathrobes might start following you around today.

Alabama Shakes Rocking The 40 Watt…

Behold if you will the mighty Alabama Shakes doing a little Heavy Chevy from this past Friday night at The 40 Watt when they opened for DBT. I can’t ever remember seeing everyone including all members of DBT watching the entire set from the opening band.Thanks to the 3DD film crew,everyone from DBT,and everyone at The 40 Watt for making this happen. Now turn your speakers up and get ready to rock.