Drive-By Truckers to Release 'American Band – Deluxe' Ahead of Election

Drive-By Truckers are marking the upcoming 2024 presidential election with an expanded new edition of their landmark 2016 album, American Band, arriving via ATO Records on Friday, November 1. The deluxe 2xLP set will include 7 live tracks (recorded at the band’s annual HeAthen’s Homecoming 2018 at Athens, GA’ historic 40 Watt Club), updated liner notes by Drive-By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hood, additional photos, and exclusive new artwork which sees the album’s powerful original cover by photographer Danny Clinch reinterpreted by longtime visual collaborator, the late Wes Freed. "Ramon Casiano (Live at 40 Watt Club, Athens, GA)," one of the seven unreleased live tracks, is streaming now.

“In case you haven’t noticed, American Band has been out of print for a minute and we’re happy to announce the release of American Band Deluxe on vinyl (and digital),” says Patterson Hood. “The deluxe edition includes an album of live versions of songs that we recorded at our annual DBT HeAthen’s Homecoming show at the fabulous 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia in 2018. By this point, the songs had taken on new lives and expanded in some beautiful ways that we hadn’t imagined when we first recorded them three years earlier. It includes a raucous live version of ‘Kinky Hypocrite’ (which was originally included as a studio version on a 45 as a part of the original release), a definitive version of ‘What It Means,’ and a rare live version of ‘Ever South’ that includes an extended intro featuring a part of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ masterpiece ‘Southern Accents.’ It truly Kicks Ass!”

Drive-By Truckers have spent much of this year traveling on their Southern Rock Opera Revisited 2024 Tour, a wide-ranging headline run presented by Live Nation that sees the band performing their acclaimed 2001 album, Southern Rock Opera, along with fan favorites and other songs from across their classic canon. Dates resume October 16 at Washington, DC’s Warner Theatre and then travel through a very special tour finale set for November 24 at Nashville, TN’s historic Ryman Auditorium. Highlights include two-night stands at Chicago, IL’s House of Blues (November 1-2), and Asheville, NC’s The Orange Peel (November 7-8). A very special Southern Rock Opera Revisited VIP Experience is available throughout the tour, including premium tickets, an exclusive pre-show soundcheck party, limited edition items (including a commemorative concert ticket signed by the band, VIP laminate, and Southern Rock Opera Revisited 2024 collectible patch), and more. For complete details and ticket information, please visit HERE.

In addition, Drive-By Truckers recently announced the 2025 edition of their annual HeAthens Homecoming, a four-night concert event set for the legendary 40 Watt Club in their beloved home base of Athens, GA on February 12-15. Tickets for all four shows – which kick off with an intimate performance of Southern Rock Opera on February 12 – are nearly sold-out. 2025 will also see Drive-By Truckers among the hand-picked artists performing at Gov’t Mule’s Island Exodus 15, a four-night immersive musical experience slated for January 19-23, 2025 at Runaway Bay, Jamaica’s Jewel Paradise Cove Resort. Limited packages remain available HERE.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS - TOUR 2024-2025

October

16 – Washington, DC – Warner Theatre (VIP EXPERIENCE SOLD OUT)

17 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza (SOLD OUT)

18 – Boston, MA – House of Blues

19 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts

21 – Woodstock, NY – Bearsville Theater (Not Presented By Live Nation)

22 – Toronto, ON – Danforth Music Hall

23 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues

25 – Minneapolis, MN – Uptown Theater

26 – Minneapolis, MN – Uptown Theater

27 – Madison, WI – The Sylvee

29 – Des Moines, IA – Val Air Ballroom

30 – Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theater

November

1 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues

2 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues

3 – Cincinnati, OH – Bogart’s

5 – Detroit, MI – St. Andrew’s Hall

7 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel

8 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel (SOLD OUT)

9 – Atlanta, GA – Tabernacle (VIP EXPERIENCE SOLD OUT)

22 – Huntsville, AL – The Artist Meadow at The Orion Amphitheater

24 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium (VIP EXPERIENCE SOLD OUT)

January 2025

19-23 – Runaway Bay, Jamaica – Gov’t Mule’s Island Exodus 15

February 2025

12 – Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club (Performing Southern Rock Opera) †

13 – Athens, GA – 40 Watt †

14 – Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club †

15 – Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club †

† HeAthens Homecoming 2025

First released on September 30, 2016, American Band proved a strikingly potent and legitimately provocative work, the most explicitly political album in Drive-By Truckers’ extraordinary canon. Master songwriters both, Hood and DBT co-founder Mike Cooley wisely avoid overt polemics to explore such still-pressing issues as race, income inequality, the NRA, deregulation, police brutality, Islamophobia, and the ongoing crisis of suicide and opioid abuse. As a result, hard-edged and finely honed songs like “What It Means” and “Ramon Casiano” are devastatingly timeless, fueled by a spirit of moral indignation and righteous rage. A landmark album from a truly progressive rock ‘n’ roll band that has long represented the power of community and collective action, American Band now stands proudly as an enduring work of intensely human protest music, designed to raise issues and ire as the nation once again careens towards another momentous election.

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