The Dirty South is the fifth album by American roots group Drive-By Truckers, released in 2004. The Dirty South is probably Drive-By Truckers’ darkest album, and a great addition to our Gothic Western site. Like its predecessor, Southern Rock Opera, the album examines the state of the South, and unveils the hypocrisy, irony, and tragedy that continues to exist.
“The Dirty South” contains a three-song suite (“The Boys From Alabama,” “Cottonseed” and “The Buford Stick”) about Sheriff Buford Pusser. “The Boys From Alabama” was inspired by the misconceptions and “really bad movies” of the Redneck Mafia and recounts the movie Walking Tall from a “different point of view.” Hood felt that telling the story from “the bad guy’s” point of view would be more interesting. Cooley’s “Cottonseed” tells a story of corruption, crime, killing, greed, fixed elections, guns, drugs, prostitution and alcohol and uses subtle imagery to provide a very negative interpretation of Pusser. Hood’s “The Buford Stick” completes the suite by providing examples of the negative effects of Pusser’s actions while offering a less glorified view of the mythology surrounding Pusser.
As of February 2008, The Dirty South is Drive-By Truckers’ best-selling album. The Dirty South was recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. In June 2023, the album was re-released as The Complete Dirty South. This new version included three tracks not included on the original album: “Goode’s Field Road”, “TVA” and “The Great Car Dealer War”. Additionally, it features new vocal tracks for “Puttin’ People on the Moon” and “The Sands of Iwo Jima” as well as additional remixes.
• Mike Cooley – lead vocals, backing vocals, guitars, banjo on tracks 6 and 8, harmonica on track 6
• Patterson Hood – lead vocals, backing vocals, guitars, piano on tracks 2 and 14
• Jason Isbell – lead vocals, backing vocals, guitars, piano on track 2, 12 string electric Hagstrom guitar on track 5, mellophones on track 7, Fender Rhodes electric piano on track 7, Wurlitzer electric piano on track 8, B3 organ on track 14
• Brad Morgan – drums and percussion
• Shonna Tucker – bass, backing vocals
• David Barbe – production, direction, recording, piano on track 4, Fender Rhodes on track 6, B3 organ on track 8, backing vocals on track 13
• Clay Leverett – backing vocals on track 2
• The Minor Hill Singers – backing vocals on track 1
• The Minor Hill Singers are: Jason Isbell, Kimberly Morgan and Shonna Tucker
• The State Line Chain Gang – percussive auto parts on track 8
