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Patterson Hood at the Birchmere

Patterson Hood
The Birchmere
Alexandria, Va.
June 17

There were a few guitars set in a stand, a straight back chair, and a single microphone.

And then there was Patterson Hood, chief of the Drive-By Truckers, looking very comfortable on the sparse stage of the Birchmere in Alexandria, Va., as he tuned his guitar and launched into his set that began with “Dozers and Dirt,” and then moved through “Disappear,” “This Fucking Job,” “Don’t Be in Love Around Me,” and “George Jones Talkin’ Cell Phone Blues.”

Hood, dressed in green pants, a blue cotton button-down shirt, and a light-colored rimmed hat didn’t say much in the beginning of the show. That was a great decision because it gave fans a chance to marinade in Hood’s distinctive solo sound, which is obviously quite different than the three-guitar rock arrangements of Drive-By Trucker performances.

Without accompaniment, Hood’s songs sound even richer. Perhaps that’s because his vocal nuances are more easily heard. Perhaps that’s because he has time to fiddle with the sound, as he did between most of the early songs in the set when he instructed the sound engineers about what tweaks needed to be made.

Most certainly, though, the casual club atmosphere put Hood in a more laid-back mood than he – or likely anyone – would be when playing an arena or other large venue.

Audience members were fairly quiet as Hood relaxed into the set and began to tell them about the inspiration for his songs and some of the more meaningful memories of his life.

“When I was a little kid, my favorite show was on [television on] Sunday nights,” he said as an introduction to playing “Uncle Disney.” “It was the Wonderful World of Disney.”

As he spoke about how times had changed since he and other kids thought actor Kurt Russell’s gee-whiz persona was realistic and believed Tinkerbell flew around the Disney castle while clutching her magic wand, it gave the audience a behind-the-scenes glimpse at Patterson Hood before he was “old enough to know better.”
As the show progressed, both Hood’s performance and his stories deepened. He talked about drinking and partying. He talked about rejoining his family on vacation after he played this show. And he talked about his “first cousin, once removed” who died in ’58, a few years before Hood was born.

“I grew up in her presence,” he said before playing “Little Bonnie,” “even though she was gone before I was born.”

Clearly, personal relationships are important to Hood, who talked about his wife, his children and dear friends including wild man “Billy Ringo” and singer-songwriter Kelly Hogan, who sings a duet with Hood on his September release “Heat Lightning Rumble in the Distance.”

It’s easy to love the hard-charging sound of the Drive-By Truckers. But it’s charming to put the heavy musical artillery away and find out what’s under the creative Hood.