DBT's STROKER ACE ALONE, BUT NOT FOOLISH

the fool on every corner
Released 2012

747 Miles To Go

Drive-By Truckers co-founder Mike Cooley finally goes it alone, but cruises a familiar route filled with guns, booze and dark Southern Charm.  

 the fool on every corner is an acoustic adventure across all but the earliest entries in the Drive By Truckers library recorded over two shows at The Earl in Atlanta and The Melting Point in Athens, Ga.

While most of the songs are quieter and slower than their DBT incarnations, they're no less compelling with Cooley's drawl and wit at the forefront, some even more so.

"Getting all excited finding nothing that was never there before

Is like bringing flowers to your Mama and tracking dog shit all over the floor

Jesus made the flowers but it took a dog to make the story good"

  - Cartoon Gold

The desolation angels in the opener Loaded Gun in the Closet (Decoration Day) and Pulaski (Go Go Boots) seem even more hopeless with the new treatment.

Playfully in 3 Dimes Down, Cooley fills out the closing line "Come back baby, Rock and roll never forgets" with a verse of Bob Seger you've waited for every time you hear the song. The cover of Behind Closed Doors is 1970s AM radio gold at its brightest and played as tribute not spoof.

Carl Perkins Cadillac - a cynically hilarious take Sam Phillips' Sun Records "Million Dollar Quartet" and the music business from The Dirty South - is the outing's centerpiece and among the finest DBT songs no matter how it's presented.

"Mr. Phillips never said anything behind nobody's back
Like 'Dammit Elvis, don't he know, he ain't no Johnny Cash'"

Then, later ...

"If Mr. Phillips was the only man that Jerry Lee would call sir
Then I guess Mr. Phillips did all of Y'all about as good as you deserve"

And, finally ...

"Dammit Elvis, I swear son I think it's time you come around

Making money you can't spend ain't what being dead's about"

The loudest audience sing-a-longs come on Marry Me and Shut Up And Get On The Plane.

The only new Cooley original, Drinking Coke and Eating Ice, closes the collection with a splash of middle class disenchantment: "It took walls to drive her crazy/It took space to drive her in."

Chants of "Cooley! Cooley! Cooley!" follow him out.

Song for the Soundtrack: Drinking Coke and Eating Ice

Running Data for Sunday, April 7
4.28 Miles
49:49

In The Mileage Change Jar: 0.28 Miles