Originally Published: 2006-10-15

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"Each person brings in the song and then we take it from there," Hood explains. "Everyone is pretty much into serving the song. We all try to be as ego-free as possible. Everyone can go work on their side or solo projects for the things that don't really work in the context of this band."
In fact, Hood has just completed a new solo album, described as "power pop, with a big Big Star influence." It features his DBT bandmates, producer David Barbe, friends from Athens, and his father. David Hood is a legendary bassist, and part of the famed Muscle Shoals rhythm section that played on hit records by the likes of Aretha Franklin, Percy Sledge, Rod Stewart and Paul Simon. "We had a great time.That was a lifelong I thing I really wanted to do," says Patterson.
DBT's style has been termed alt-country, cowpunk and psychobilly, but can best be called Southern rock with a brain. Beneath the sonic firepower lurks a literary intelligence, infused with a strong social and moral conscience. Their songs depict drifters, drunks, losers, and those just trying to survive in hard times, and The South is a consistent theme and backdrop..
In fact, the band first made a real splash with Southern Rock Opera (it was exactly that), while the subsequent Decoration Day and 2004's The Dirty South further explored the subject. Hood acknowledges that the songs on A Blessing And A Curse are a little more universal in scope.
"We'd become known so synonymously with those kinds of things. On the new record, we wanted to do something not quite so geographically specific. That was likely more of a sidestep than a permanent thing, though. I've always liked music that has a strong sense of place, whether it is Springsteen and Jersey or The Pogues or Ramones."
Hood readily admits to a love/hate relationship with The South. "There are a lot of things about our heritage to be proud of, especially artistically, in music and literature and the visual arts. At the same time it can certainly be frustrating. My political views are certainly in the minority in this part of the country, and you can get frustrated with that, especially as you sense that people are voting for the very people that are holding them down. Here in Athens, we have a tiny liberal oasis in a sea of red Republicanism. We may have to build a fence though cos they're trying to run us out of here too!"

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