Drive-By Truckers Frontman Apologizes for Band Name in NPR Op-Ed
Patterson Hood, frontman of the Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers, has penned a new op-ed for NPR in which he apologizes to fans for the band’s name. “Our name was a drunken joke that was never intended to be in rotation and reckoned with two-and-a-half decades later, and I sincerely apologize for its stupidity and any negative stereotypes it has propagated,” he wrote near the end of the column. “I'm not sure changing it now serves any higher purpose, but I'm certainly open to suggestions.”
Throughout his piece, Hood explains the original genesis of the name—a tribute to “two forms of music I loved and revered,” hip-hop and country—before acknowledging its problematic nature. “No one is blissfully unaware of much any more; this can be painful and brain-numbing but it can also, hopefully, lead us to somewhere better,” he wrote. “I've never really given much of a shit about the band name. We have spent most of the last two-and-a-half decades on the road, playing over 2,500 shows on three continents. We recently released our twelfth studio record. We've had numerous personnel changes (although none in the last eight years) and our sound and songs have morphed and changed as we've all grown older and, hopefully, wiser.”
Read the full op-ed here.
Originally Appeared on Pitchfork
