Next week the Drive By Truckers will embark on a tour and on July 26 they will be releasing an expanded edition of their album “Southern Rock Opera”.

Originally released on September 11, 2001 (in the words of President Theodore Roosevelt “a day that will live in infamy”) the release was a double vinyl album. 

The new release will be a three LP release.  “Southern Rock Opera – Deluxe” is the original double album remixed and remastered with a third album of additional live and studio recordings.  Along with the new music, the Deluxe edition includes a 28 page book featuring expanded liner notes and Never before seen photos.

Co-founder Patterson Hood spoke on the album saying, “it’s been nearly a quarter century since we began writing something we called ‘Betamax Guillotine’.

“It’s been nearly a quarter century since we began writing something we called Betamax Guillotine.  A love letter to the 70s arena rock of our youth and a coming-of-age story about a fictitious rock ‘n’ roll band in the post-civil rights South. An examination of coming to terms with the conflicted emotions many Southerners have had about our home region and something that we referred to as ‘The Duality of the Southern Thing.’ Mike Cooley and I had played together for over a decade in a band called Adam’s House Cat before forming Drive-By Truckers in 1996. We were batsh*t crazy and wildly ambitious. We couldn’t afford motel rooms so we’d call out from the stage and ask if anyone would let us crash at their place. Most nights someone would oblige, then we’d stay up late, regaling them with this crazy story about an album we wanted to make. A Southern Rock Opera. It would begin with a car wreck and end with a plane crash. It would talk about Lynyrd Skynyrd and George Wallace. It would take a classic rock approach but play it with wild punk rock abandon. It will be loud as hell.”

Drive By Truckers tour dates:
May 18 at the Fisherman’s Village Music Festival in Everett, WA
June 7 at the Egyptian Room in Indianapolis, IN
June 8 at The Pageant in St. Louis, MO
June 9 at the Mercury Ballroom in Louisville, KY
June 10 at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Henrico, VA
June 13 at The Ritz in Raleigh, NC
June 14 at The Fillmore in Charlotte, NC
June 15 at Iron City in Birmingham, AL
June 16 at The Civic Theatre in New Orleans, LA
June 19 at the House of Blues in Houston, TX
June 20 at The Moody Theater in Austin, TX
June 21 at the House of Blues in Dallas, TX
June 23 at The Van Buren in Phoenix, AZ
June 26 at The Magnolia in El Cajon, CA
June 27 at The Belasco in Los Angeles, CA
June 28 & 29 at The Fillmore in San Francisco, CA
July 1 at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, OR
Juley 2 at the Neptune Theatre in Seattle, WA
July 5 at The Complex in Salt Lake City, UT
July 6 at The Fillmore Auditorium in Denver, CO
Aug 31 at the Rhythm & Roots in Charlestown, RI
Sept 20-22 at the FreshGrass in North Adams, MA
Oct 16 at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C.
Oct 17 at Irving Plaza in New York City, NY
Oct 18 at the House of Blues in Boston, MA
Oct 19 at the Theatre of Living Arts in Philadelphia, PA
Oct 21 at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, NY
Oct 22 at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, ON
Oct 23 at the House of Blues in Cleveland, OH
Oct 25 & 26 at the Uptown Theater in Minneapolis, MN
Oct 27 at The Sylvee in Madison, WI
Oct 29 at the Val Air Ballroom in Des Moines, IA
Oct 30 at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, WI
Nov 1 & 2 at the House of Blues in Chicago, IL
Nov 3 at Bogart’s in Cincinnati, OH
Nov 5 at St. Andrew’s Hall in Detroit, MI
Nov 7 & 8 at The Orange Peel in Asheville, NC
Nov 9 at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, GA
Nov 24 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN