I just booked my flight to Georgia for next Saturday's Drive By Truckers gig at the 40 Watt Club in Athens. It's actually a three night stand, to celebrate the release of the band's latest album, A Blessing and a Curse. You can hear one track off the album, "February 14" at this web site (along with a cover of "Like a Rolling Stone".

I was at the 40 Watt two years ago, to mark the release of The Dirty South, and it was about as much fun as you can have without harming any animals or children.

The tracks on the forthcoming album are largely brand new, written during the recording sessions last fall in North Carolina. Unfortunately A Blessing and a Curse isn't hitting stores until April.

Frontman Patterson Hood has also finished recording his second solo album, Murdering Oscar and Other Love Songs. No release date is yet slated, but you can hear several tracks here.

"'Til Death Do Us Part"

LNW!s (highly unauthoritative) list of the top albums of 2004

1. Rilo Kiley - "More Adventurous"
2. Chuck Prophet - "Age of Miracles"
3. Todd Snider - "East Nashville Skyline"
4. The Mountain Goats - "We Shall All Be Healed"
5. The Figgs - "Palais"
6. Drive By Truckers - "The Dirty South"
7. Loretta Lynn - "Van Lear Rose"
8. Neko Case - "The Tigers Have Spoken"
9. Gretchen Wilson - "Redneck Woman"
10. Jim White - "Drill a Hole in That Substrate and Tell Me What You See"