Photo by Danny Clinch
It’s election day again, and while we can’t vote our current POTUS out of the White House for another three years, voting local is just as important. To help folks remember why their voices need to be heard now more than ever, Drive-By Truckers have shared a new single called “The Perilous Night”.
The trudging alt-country track recounts everything that’s happened in the country since Trump came into office. With references to the KKK, the ongoing Russia scandal(s), and the Charlottesville protests and attack, it’s a terribly dark song that’s unfortunately only calling it like the band sees it. “White House is glowing from the red square light/ The gates at the border being slammed down tight,” goes the constantly changing chorus. “We’re moving into the perilous night, my friend.”
“‘The Perilous Night’ is a sort of nightmarish epilogue to the themes we addressed on American Band,” said the band’s Patterson Hood. “I began writing it on the day the Electoral College met in December 2016 and completed it in the wake of the horrific events in Charlottesville, VA last summer. We recorded it in Athens, GA during a break in our fall tour and mixed it on the day Tom Petty passed away. It may be the darkest song I’ve ever written, but it’s also a dance song. Turn it up!”
Take a listen via the lyric video below.
“The Perilous Night” is the B-side to a new charity 7-inch DBT is releasing on December 15th via ATO Records. With an A-side featuring a live recording of “What It Means” from the 2017 Newport Folk Festival, the single will benefit the Southern Poverty Law Center. Pre-orders are going on here.
In addition to the track, the band have announced their first tour dates of 2018. Find their itinerary below.
Drive-By Truckers 2018 Tour Dates:
01/26 – Kansas City, MO @ The Truman #
01/27 – Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue #
01/28 – Sioux Falls, SD @ Orpheum Theatre #
01/31 – Missoula, MT @ The Wilma #
02/01 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater #
02/02 – Vancouver, BC @ Imperial #
02/03 – Seattle, WA @ Moore Theatre #
02/05 – Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory #
02/07 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall #
02/08 – San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall #
02/09 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey #
02/10 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren #
02/15 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt *
02/16 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt ^
02/17 – Athens, GA @ 40 Watt #
# = w/ Lilly Hiatt
* = w/ T. Hardy Morris
^ = w/ David Barbe and Inward Dream Ebb / Camp Amped