Johnny Cash was in the unenviable position of being a living legend who was beloved by fans of classic country music without being able to interest anyone in his most recent work when he was signed to Rick Rubin's American Recordings label in 1994. Rubin, best known for his work with edgy rockers and hip-hop acts, opted to produce Cash's first album for American, and as he tried to brainstorm an approach that would introduce Cash to a new audience, he struck upon a brilliant idea -- doing nothing. For American Recordings, Rubin simply set up some recording equipment in Cash's Tennessee cabin and recorded him singing a set of songs accompanied only by his acoustic guitar. The result is an album that captured the glorious details of Johnny Cash's voice and allowed him to demonstrate just how emotionally powerful an instrument he possessed. While Rubin clearly brought some material to Cash for these sessions -- it's hard to imagine he would have recorded tunes by Glenn Danzig or Tom Waits without a bit of prodding -- Cash manages to put his stamp on every tune on this set, and he also brought some excellent new songs to the table, including the Vietnam veteran's memoir "Drive On," the powerful testimony of faith "Redemption," and a sly but moving recollection of his wild younger days, "Like a Soldier." American Recordings became a critical sensation and a commercial success, though it was overrated in some quarters simply because it reminded audiences that one of America's greatest musical talents was still capable of making compelling music, something he had never stopped doing even if no one bothered to listen. Still, American Recordings did something very important -- it gave Cash a chance to show how much he could do with a set of great songs and no creative interference, and it afforded him the respect he'd been denied for so long, and the result is a powerful and intimate album that brought the Man in Black back to the spotlight, where he belonged.© Mark Deming /TiVo

Don't be deterred by the rather misleading title. Not a rock opera in the sense of Tommy or Jesus Christ Superstar, this sprawling double disc is more akin to a song cycle about Southern rock, in particular Lynyrd Skynyrd. Almost six years in the making, the Drive-By Truckers have created a startlingly intelligent work that proudly stands with the best music of their obvious inspiration. Largely written and conceived by lead trucker Patterson Hood (son of famed Muscle Shoals bassist David Hood), who sings the majority of the songs in a torn, ragged, but emotionally charged twangy voice somewhere between Tom Petty and Rod Stewart, these 20 literate tracks encapsulate a remarkably objective look at what Hood calls "the duality of the South." Rocking with a lean hardness, the story unfolds over 90 minutes, but the savvy lyrical observations never overburden the songs' clenched grip. While bands like the similarly styled Bottle Rockets have worked this territory before, never has a group created an opus that's thematically tied to this genre while objectively exploring its conceptual limitations. The two discs are divided into Acts I and II; the first sets the stage by exploring aspects of an unnamed Southern teen's background growing up as a music fan in an environment where sports stars, not rock stars, were idolized. The second follows him as he joins his Skynyrd-styled dream band, tours the world, and eventually crashes to his death in the same sort of airplane accident that claimed his heroes. The Drive-By Truckers proudly charge through these songs with their three guitars, grinding and soloing with a swampy intensity recalling a grittier, less commercially viable early version of Skynyrd. A potentially dodgy concept that's redeemed by magnificent songwriting, passionate singing, and ruggedly confident but far from over-the-top playing, Southern Rock Opera should be required listening not only for fans of the genre, but anyone interested in the history of '70s rock, or even the history of the South in that decade. More the story of Hood than Skynyrd, this is thought-provoking music that also slashes, burns, and kicks out the jams. Its narrative comes to life through these songs of alienation, excess, and, ultimately, salvation, as seen through the eyes of someone who lived and understands it better than most.© Hal Horowitz /TiVo

For a musician, the trouble with making your best album is you have to figure out a way to top it next time out, and that isn't always easy. On their first three albums, the Drive-By Truckers were a better-than-average band from the harder-and-faster end of the alt-country spectrum who blended Replacements-esque snot and slop with a Lynyrd Skynyrd-influenced shot of twangy hard rock. But it was when the Truckers confronted the ghost of Skynyrd as well as the often confusing legacy of both Southern rock and what DBTs leader Patterson Hood calls "the duality of the Southern thing" that they finally achieved greatness; Southern Rock Opera was that modern rarity, a successful concept album, a thoughtful examination of race and class in America, and a superb, balls-out hard rock album wrapped up in one proudly homemade package. The brilliance of Southern Rock Opera certainly upped the ante for the DBTs' follow-up, and it would be a lie to say Decoration Day is just as remarkable as the album that preceded it. But Decoration Day is every bit as ambitious a work as Southern Rock Opera, broadening the band's sound and style while staying true to their ideals and approach. If you're looking for tough, Southern-styled rock, "Marry Me," "Careless," and "Do It Yourself" offer it up in spades (and "Hell No, I Ain't Happy" sounds like it could be a new generation's "Take This Job and Shove It"); but the quiet bad-seed ballads "The Deeper In" and "Heathens" and the tragic love songs "My Sweet Anette" and "Sounds Better in the Song" all display a subtlety and restraint one might not have expected from this band, while still boasting the flinty honesty of the Truckers' best work. Decoration Day lacks the narrative cohesion of Southern Rock Opera, but all of these songs are informed by the experience of living and dying in the Deep South, described with a deeply felt compassion but with no false illusions, and the DBTs draw their portraits with a deep and telling eye for the details; Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp never wrote a Farm Aid song as bitter and pointed as "Sink Hole," while "Outfit" and the title tune both celebrate a man's Alabama heritage while examining the toll it has claimed of his sons. Somber and smart, Decoration Day also manages to kick like a mule, and if isn't the same sort of masterpiece as Southern Rock Opera, it's strong enough to suggest the Drive-By Truckers may have a handful of masterpieces up their sleeves.© Mark Deming /TiVo

When Ice Cube split from N.W.A after the group's seminal Straight Outta Compton album changed the world forever, expectations were high, too high to ever be met by anyone but the most talented of artists, and at his most inspired. At the time Cube was just that. With AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted the rapper expanded upon Compton, making a more full-bodied album that helped boost the role of the individual in hip-hop. Save the dramatic intro where a mythical Ice Cube is fried in the electric chair, his debut is filled with eye-level views of the inner city that are always vivid, generally frightening, generally personal, and sometimes humorous in the gallows style. Ripping it quickly over a loop from George Clinton's "Atomic Dog," Cube asks the question that would be central to his early career, "Why there more niggas in the pen than in college?," while sticking with the mutual distrust and scare tactics N.W.A used to wipe away any hopes of reconciliation ("They all scared of the Ice Cube/And what I say what I portray and all that/And ain't even seen the gat"). "What I'm kicking to you won't get rotation/Nowhere in the nation" he spits on the classic "Turn Off the Radio," which when coupled with the intoxicating Bomb Squad production and Cube's cocksure delivery that's just below a shout, makes one think he's the only radio the inner city needs. The Bomb Squad's amazing work on the album proves they've been overly associated with Public Enemy, since their ability to adapt to AmeriKKKa's more violent and quick revolution is underappreciated. Their high point is the intense "Endangered Species," a "live by the trigger" song that offers "It's a shame, that niggas die young/But to the light side it don't matter none." This street knowledge venom with ultra fast funk works splendidly throughout the album, with every track hitting home, although the joyless "You Can't Fade Me" has alienated many a listener since kicking a possibly pregnant woman in the stomach is a very hard one to take. Just to be as confusing as the world he lives in, the supposedly misogynistic Cube introduces female protégé Yo-Yo with "It's a Man's World" before exiting with "The Bomb," a perfectly unforgiving and visceral closer. Save a couple Arsenio Hall disses, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted is a timeless, riveting exercise in anger, honesty, and the sociopolitical possibilities of hip-hop.© David Jeffries /TiVo

After 26 years together and their two most recent albums filled with political and social commentary, the indestructible Drive-By Truckers, fronted by founders Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, and including keyboardist/guitarist Jay Gonzalez, bassist Matt Patton, and drummer Brad Morgan, have here gotten personal and yes, openly nostalgic. Welcome 2 Club XIII, named for a divey North Alabama club where they started out and where, as bandleader Hood now puts it, "From time to time the owner would throw us a Wednesday night or let us open for a hair-metal band," is a window into the band's long journey. While the crunchy guitars and consciously southern rock sound has been rightly de-emphasized in recent years, a menacing, snarly guitar line does accompany opening track "The Driver," a long, spoken word travelogue through Hood's formative years finding him, "'Blasting 'Here Comes a Regular' on ten/ An epiphany, a moment of clarity/ Driving all alone at 4AM."  With hindsight he now reckons, "We were already older, yet much younger than today." While much of the music meanders with few hooks or inventive turns, the lyrics from both Hood and Cooley are particularly sharp. In "We will never wake you up in the morning," Hood's straining vocals effectively tell the fatalistic tale of the "narcotic splendor of your never-ending bender," where "The heaven that awaits you is a bar that never closes" and the final wreck and ruin leaves survivors with "hearts broken by your actions but you had the best intentions." A three-piece horn section fortifies "Every Single Storied Flameout," a song about the example Mike Cooley set in life for his teenage son. R.E.M.'s Mike Mills provides vocal harmonies on "Maria's Awful Disclosures," Margo Price appears on "Forged In Hell And Heaven Sent," and up-and-coming songstress Schaefer Llana adds an inspired vocal turn in "Wilder Days." Longtime producer David Barbe, who has been a part of the band's story since 2001's Southern Rock Opera, is again at the helm. Recorded in 2021 at his Chase Park Studios in Athens, GA, Welcome 2 Club XIII has the immediacy and push that Barbe has always brought to the band's sound. An engaging, back to the future survey of a veteran band. © Robert Baird/Qobuz

When you've named your band the Drive-By Truckers and your first three albums are called Pizza Deliverance, Gangstabilly, and Alabama Ass Whuppin', you might have a hard time at first convincing folks that you aren't joking. But the Drive-By Truckers proved that they were most definitely not kidding with 2001's brilliant double-disc Southern Rock Opera, and 2003's Decoration Day actually upped the ante on what might have been a fluke masterpiece with its dark and thoroughly absorbing chronicle of hard times in the American South. With The Dirty South, the DBTs have crafted an equally effective companion piece to Decoration Day that plays on the gangsta rap reference of its title with a set of vividly rendered portraits of life along the margins of respectability below the Mason-Dixon line, from laid-off factory rats dealing drugs to feed their kids to Alabama gangsters determined to shut down the cops who made their daughters cry. From the first low, metallic stomps from Brad Morgan's kick drum on "Where the Devil Don't Stay," it's clear that The Dirty South isn't going to be a good-time party most of the way, and while there are some brilliant anthemic rockers on this album (most notably "The Day John Henry Died," "Carl Perkins' Cadillac," and "Never Gonna Change"), and Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley, and Jason Isbell have grown into a force to be reckoned with as both guitarists and songwriters, there's more than a little blood, fear, doubt, shame, and simple human tragedy at the heart of these stories. While much of America might be laughing at "You might be a redneck..." jokes, the Drive-By Truckers aren't about to let anyone forget the harsh truth behind growing up on the wrong side of the tracks in this country, and the tough, muscular force of their music only sharpens the bite of their stories. They can also turn down the amps and still hit you in the heart, especially on "Danko/Manuel" and "Daddy's Cup," and David Barbe's production gives this band the full-bodied clarity they've always deserved. Believe it -- the Drive-By Truckers are the best, smartest, and most soulful hard rock band to emerge in a very long time, and while The Dirty South isn't always good for laughs, it has too many great stories and too much fierce, passionate rock & roll for anyone who cares about such things to dare pass it up.© Mark Deming /TiVo

Drive-By Truckers leader Patterson Hood wrote in a post on the band's website that 2007 "was supposed to be our year of taking it easy," but it doesn't seem to have worked out that way, and that's a good thing for everyone concerned. The songwriting bug seems to have bit the Drive-By Truckers sometime after the release of 2006's A Blessing and a Curse, and while that album was a bit short on top-shelf material (at least compared to the band's work since Southern Rock Opera), Brighter Than Creation's Dark is a dazzling return to form, delivering some of their finest, most eclectic, and most mature music to date. The album's strength is a pleasant surprise given the departure of guitarist and tunesmith Jason Isbell, who had become one of the group's most interesting writers, but founding members Hood and Mike Cooley have risen to the occasion with some excellent new songs, and bassist Shonna Tucker (who's also Isbell's ex-wife) steps forward as a composer and lead vocalist on this set with three great songs about broken hearts and the stuff that follows in their wake. Opening with "Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife," a song by Hood sung from the perspective of a man who has just died and wonders what will become of his family, Brighter Than Creation's Dark presents 19 portraits of folks struggling to make sense of an increasingly chaotic world, ranging from an alcoholic father ("Daddy Needs a Drink") and a family man struggling to hold onto a little piece of the American dream ("The Righteous Path") to a middle-aged guy whose gotten a little too used to being lonely ("Bob") and an illegal gun dealer running short on options ("Checkout Time in Vegas"). While the Truckers are still a great full-tilt hard rock band, Brighter Than Creation's Dark finds them slowing down and turning down a bit more than usual, and in this case it works well for them -- the homey twang of "Lisa's Birthday" and "I'm Sorry Huston" gives new guitarist and pedal steel player John Neff a chance to shine, and the light acoustic arrangement of "Perfect Timing" fits the lyrical portrait of a cheerfully flawed man just fine. And "That Man I Shot" is a blazing, troubling masterpiece in which a soldier home from Iraq can't tear away the memory of a man he killed in combat ("That man I shot, I didn't know him/I was just doing my job, maybe so was he"). It's a tale of the most human consequences of war that's built from equal portions of anger, confusion, and compassion, and it's hard to imagine any other band pulling off its fusion of Southern-fried street smarts and guitar-fueled thunder. It's one of several brilliant moments on Brighter Than Creation's Dark, and less than three weeks into 2008 it's hard not to escape the feeling that with this disc we may already have the best album of the year.© Mark Deming /TiVo

Third Eye Blind's eponymous debut is catchier than the average post-grunge album, and that fact alone reveals a lot about the band. Instead of relying on standard, plodding grunge influences, Third Eye Blind draw heavily from the simple hook-laden traditions of classic arena rock, which makes the album more immediate. Unfortunately, this also makes it a little simplistic -- the group can craft a naggingly memorable hook, as evidenced by the single "Semi-Charmed Life," but they aren't always able to fashion them into songs. Still, Third Eye Blind is easy on the ears, and its straight-ahead professionalism makes it a pleasurable listen for post-grungers.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

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With the appearance of Lighthouse, singer/songwriter David Crosby, age 75, continues a late-career renaissance that began with 2014's Croz -- his proper studio follow-up to 1971's classic If I Could Only Remember My Name. This set was produced by Snarky Puppy boss Michael League, who co-wrote five of these nine tunes with Crosby. The producer, a lifelong fan of the 1971 album, approached Crosby about recording something quick and dirty over a couple of weeks. He was met with incredulousness. The artist was used to working on albums for months, even years. After three days, they completed three new songs, and Crosby was all in. Loosely modeled on the 1971 album, this is a more stripped-down affair, immediate, even raw in places. Crosby's acoustic guitar, vocals, and layered harmonies are accompanied by League playing assorted guitars and basses and managing studio atmospherics. Opening track and single "Things We Do for Love" is breezy and attractive with a trademark hook in the refrain, but it offers a subtle proof: That Crosby's golden voice is indeed subject to the march of time. The slight graininess in his delivery is used to wonderful effect on "The Us Below" as its arrangement bridges progressive folk and jazzy pop. Speaking of jazz, "Look in Their Eyes" contains a bluesy guitar and bass vamp that frames the singer's elastic phrasing amid shifting time signatures, punctuated with a dreamy bridge. "What Makes It So" is slippery, folky rock. It's one of two tracks to feature organist Cory Henry on a haunting B-3, as League's slide playing enhances the most hummable melody here. Pianist Bill Laurance also appears twice, most notably on the closer "By the Light of a Common Day" by Crosby and Becca Stevens. She and Michelle Willis add backing vocals to an Anglo-Celtic folk melody extrapolated toward sophisticated adult pop. League's electric guitar rings in the background, underscoring the interplay between the singers. As a whole, Lighthouse doesn't reach the creative level of its 1971 inspiration. "Paint You a Picture," co-written by the singer with Marc Cohn, suffers from the former's generic melody. It hangs a poignant poetic lyric out to dry -- Laurance's piano fills almost rescue it, but not quite. Throughout, there's a sameness in tempo and production values that results in a pleasant but blurry dream effect. It's too easy to get absorbed in the record's sound and not pay attention to the songs, many of which are quite fine. Lighthouse is lovely, but the lack of attention to detail blunts some of the writing and playing craft on offer.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

Determined to avoid the career-killing, time-consuming recording that plagued the Stone Roses' Second Coming, guitarist John Squire had the Seahorses record their debut album Do It Yourself within months of forming. While his desire to keep the Seahorses a straight-ahead working band is admirable, the results are painfully lackluster. Squire's riffs are skilled but rarely catchy -- they're labored and self-consciously complex. However, they do keep your attention, which can't be said about vocalist Chris Helme, who illustrates that Ian Brown's affected sneer works better with a tuneless vocalist. Helme's songs, including the two openers, are quite bland, but Squire's numbers are also undistinguished attempts at classicist Britpop. "Love is the Law" has a fairly interesting riff and "Love Me and Leave Me," a song co-written by Liam Gallagher, has a nice melody, but the most disconcerting thing about the Seahorses is that Squire sounds as if he's following Oasis, a band he influenced himself. And he's not following them very well at that, which means Do It Yourself winds up sounding like second-rate Cast.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo