Drive-By Truckers' fifth album cemented their reputation as the finest chroniclers of the complicated Southern experience since Faulkner put pen to paper. The Dirty South weaves together tales of forgotten country musicians, small-town criminals, and the ghosts that haunt anyone who grew up below the Mason-Dixon line. Jason Isbell's addition to the band's guitar army—joining Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley—created a three-headed monster of Southern rock storytelling that peaked with this double album of hard truths and harder drinking.

Carl Perkins in Cottondale finds the ghost of rockabilly haunting an Alabama juke joint. Puttin' People on the Moon contrasts the Space Race with grinding rural poverty. The Buford Stick tells the true crime story of Sheriff Buford Pusser with DBT's characteristic refusal to turn outlaws into heroes. Through it all, the guitars churn with the same fury that powered Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers while the lyrics refuse easy nostalgia or regional chauvinism.

The Dirty South stands as Drive-By Truckers' most ambitious statement—a concept album about a region that resists easy definition. For fans of Jason Isbell's solo work, Patterson Hood's sharp pen, and guitar rock that means something, this is essential listening.

2-LP Vinyl. New West Records. Features Jason Isbell, Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley. Southern rock storytelling at its peak.