Tracks
Drive-by Truckers: "Easy On Yourself"
(2006)
By Peter Hepburn | 17 January 2008
After being stuck on absolutely-gorgeous-rock-song duty for The Dirty South, young Jason Isbell, the third man in Drive-by Truckers bulletproof songwriter front, gets to break loose with "Easy on Yourself," the third track off the band's seventh album. Sure, "Danko/Manuel" and "Goddamn Lonely Love" were arguably the two finest songs of 2004, but the whole band seems to be kicking back and taking it easy after three pretty fantastic concept albums, and it seems only right that...holy shit, what's that cowbell?
No really, where's that coming from? Is there really that much cowbell in this song or is there some rogue percussionist going crazy in the next room over? Oh wow, no, it's the song. Has Bruce Dickinson taken over production duties for DBT? Weird. Okay, shake it off, Hepburn.
Nonetheless, Isbell is on his game here. At this point we should expect nothing less from him of course, and yet still every time he manages to just nail a chorus like that or pull off such a sneeringly badass verse it reaffirms his place as one of the strongest young songwri....aw jesus, there's that cowbell again.
What's going on here? The chances that Drive-by Truckers have been overcome by an ironic streak seems inconceivable, and yet, how else can we explain such blatant cowbell? Sounds like Bruce Oyster Cult, feels like Blue Oyster Cult, and yet with Isbell's songwriting it's distinctly not Blue Oyster Cult. Something's amiss here, and the only prescription is less cowbell.
No really, where's that coming from? Is there really that much cowbell in this song or is there some rogue percussionist going crazy in the next room over? Oh wow, no, it's the song. Has Bruce Dickinson taken over production duties for DBT? Weird. Okay, shake it off, Hepburn.
Nonetheless, Isbell is on his game here. At this point we should expect nothing less from him of course, and yet still every time he manages to just nail a chorus like that or pull off such a sneeringly badass verse it reaffirms his place as one of the strongest young songwri....aw jesus, there's that cowbell again.
What's going on here? The chances that Drive-by Truckers have been overcome by an ironic streak seems inconceivable, and yet, how else can we explain such blatant cowbell? Sounds like Bruce Oyster Cult, feels like Blue Oyster Cult, and yet with Isbell's songwriting it's distinctly not Blue Oyster Cult. Something's amiss here, and the only prescription is less cowbell.