Drive-By Truckers revisit seminal album 'Southern Rock Opera' at Mr. Smalls show

In 2001, the Drive-By Truckers released their third studio album, “Southern Rock Opera.” It was a dream conceived by members of the band before they even officially formed, back in 1998; a kind of concept album about growing up in the South, rock music, the complicated history of the region and — of course — Lynyrd Skynyrd.

It was the culmination of years of work by the band, especially frontman Patterson Hood. It was also, in many ways, the launching pad that’s allowed the rockers such career longevity. “Southern Rock Opera” was re-released last year, with some tweaks and new mixes, and the band is currently touring a set list that contains almost all of its songs. Their latest stop was Sunday night’s show at Mr. Smalls Theatre in Millvale.

Besides the music — a big “besides,” as the songs showcase the Truckers’ signature wailing three guitars and their unique blend of rock, Americana, blues and other genres — the aspect of “Southern Rock Opera” that makes the double album so special is its storytelling. Hood in particular has never shied away from making his politics known, and “Southern Rock Opera” is overtly political, reckoning deftly with the duality of being proudly from a region with such a difficult past.

Rolling onto the stage at just after 8 p.m., the Truckers began at the beginning, with the fuzzy, foreboding album opener “Days of Graduation.” Following that was a tune that in many ways sums up the themes of the album, the blazing “Ronnie and Neil.” The lyrics examine the dissonance between Alabama’s violent role in the Civil Rights Movement, but also its role in the great music of the time, bringing in the feud between rockers Neil Young and Ronnie Van Zant (of Skynyrd). Hood delivered both the catchy guitar lines and the words with a gravity befitting the topic.

The Drive-By Truckers’ other frontman, Mike Cooley, also got his turn at the microphone on songs including “Highway 72” and “Guitar Man Upstairs.” Both singers have their unique styles — Hood’s vocals are a little more rough around the edges, but also more poetic, while Cooley has a knack for delivering sincerity with his smoother voice — but the band is served well by having both.

Hood did do the talking, though. “We’re just thrilled to be here tonight, thank y’all,” he said after the first few songs.

Before “Wallace,” a song about the death of nationally-famous Alabama politician George Wallace, he talked about writing the song the night that he saw the ex-governor’s funeral on television. “I went home and I wrote this song, and I wanted to write it from the devil’s point of view, because we all know the devil is a Southerner,” he said.

Not every song at Sunday’s show was from “Southern Rock Opera.” It was peppered with a few other tunes from the band’s extensive discography, including two sung by Cooley from 2016’s “American Band.” The album’s opener “Ramon Casiano” was a standout, especially with its accompanying rip-roaring guitars.

A pair of fan favorites got the crowd hollering and dancing. “Zip City” is in many ways the quintessential Drive-By Truckers song, with dark, driving guitar and a story about the not-as-pretty parts of everyday Southern life. Audience members were shouting for it long before it came up in the setlist.

The second was “Let There Be Rock,” a stadium-ready song where Hood recounts his exploits as a teenager who loved rock music and got up to plenty of trouble. It’s a true celebration, name dropping legendary acts like The Replacements, Blue Oyster Cult, Ozzy Osbourne and, of course, AC/DC. Still, in the lyrics he laments that he never got to see Lynyrd Skynyrd; he was set to see them in 1977 at a show that got canceled and unfortunately rescheduled after Ronnie Van Zant’s untimely passing.

After “Road Cases,” a song that Hood referred to as “a love song” before kicking it into gear, and “Women Without Whiskey,” a melancholy tale that served as a showcase for drummer Brad Morgan, the last few songs of the album recount an imagined version of the plane crash that killed Van Zant and other Skynyrd members. The fast-paced songs “Shut Up and Get On The Plane” and “Greenville to Baton Rouge” let the talented five-piece band pull out all the stops, ending in a moment of pure musical chaos.

“There’s that part in every opera where the fat lady sings,” Hood said. “I’m the best you got.”

“Southern Rock Opera” closes with the ominous and expansive “Angels and Fuselage,” sung from the perspective of those doomed band members in the minutes when the plane went down. The ragged edges of Hood’s voice make the beautiful song even more raw in live performance.

But the night didn’t end there.

“Back in September we had one of the biggest honors of our lives when we were asked to play music for Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday party,” Hood said. “If there’s a Heaven, by golly, the Carters are there. … This is one of the songs that we chose to play for the occasion. It was a song that we knew that he loved. It came from an Alabama band that was at the time living in Macon, Georgia. They were called Wet Willie, they were incredible. …. We’re going to play it for Jimmy and Rosalynn up in Heaven.”

The song was “Keep On Smilin’” and was a turn towards the upbeat, letting the Truckers play around with their bluesier side and featuring both Hood and Cooley on vocals. They ended the night with the more incendiary “Play It All Night Long,” a Warren Zevon cover that the Truckers made very much their own, and which thematically put a perfect button on the show.

“Southern Rock Opera” is a magnum opus that’s just as relevant now as it was when it was first released in 2001, and it was clear that these songs are still the thesis statement that the Drive-By Truckers want to put out into the world. The band blazed on the stage for two and a half hours with a palpable passion and pride.