Drive-By Truckers – “Bulldozers And Dirt” / “Nine Bullets”

Remember the scene in Diner when the characters played by Daniel Stern and Kevin Bacon disagree about whether the A-side of a Ritchie Valens single was “La Bamba” or “Donna”? A similar debate, albeit a noncinematic and less historically significant one, could take place over this debut single from Drive By Truckers, a group of roots-minded rockers from Athens, Georgia. “Bulldozers And Dirt” gets top billing on the sleeve, but “Nine Bullets” is the cut contributed to the new Revival, Vol. 2 compilation and is the song the band touts in concert as its first single.

It doesn’t matter; both are swell. With his prematurely shopworn voice, frontman/songwriter Patterson Hood seems able to sell anything, be it the Raising Arizona tale spun by “Bulldozers And Dirt” (“Police hauled my ass off to jail/Your mama signed the trailer to help make the bail”) or the homicidal “I’ve had enough” checklist of “Nine Bullets”. And the backing, peppered with pedal steel and mandolin, more than holds its own with Hood’s vocals and words.