Everybody has holiday traditions, and for this writer that tradition has been catching Patterson Hood perform solo in Portland, Oregon. Each December, the co-frontman of the Drive-By Truckers embarks on a mini tour that usually culminates in the Rose City, which he has called home for quite some time now. In a way, this run is usually something of a humble victory lap for an artist who spends much of his time on the road with one of the hardest-working rock and roll bands out there today. Though he normally performs at the legendary Doug Fir Lounge, a change of location forced Patterson Hood to hold his final shows of the year at the decidedly more intimate Show Bar for a three-night run. On Wednesday, December 20th, Hood played the second of three nights in front of an attentive crowd with the kind of closeness that felt like a house concert and what was easily one of his best solo shows in Portland to date.
Taking the stage shortly past eight, Hood wasted little time as he started off with two of the Truckers’ newer songs, “Rosemary with a Bible and a Gun” and “Shake and Pine.” As has been his tradition the last couple of years, Hood invited fellow Portlander Chris Funk of The Decemberists to join him. Funk’s lap steel and dobro added textures and richness to Hood’s songs throughout the night, including giving these first two songs an otherworldly sound. The Truckers always put on an impressive rock and roll show, but they truly blow their audience away when they are loose and fired up. The same is true for Hood’s solo shows, and by the time he made his way to “Monument Valley” – with some fine dobro picking from Funk – and followed it up with the thematically appropriate “Grand Canyon” that saw him belting out the vocals with his fierce drawling rasp, it was clear that Hood was doing more than going through the motions.
In between songs, Hood shared stories that often veered into deeply personal as he touched on growing up, having kids, doing far too many drugs, and the ups and downs of being in bands for nearly forty years. Songs like “Uncle Disney” and the wild country-folk of “George Jones Talkin’ Cell Phone Blues” displayed his dark Southern humor, while longtime favorites like the dobro-laced “Heathens – an anthem of sorts for the Truckers fans – and “Lookout Mountain” roused the audience. Nearly every fan prefers the Southern rock energy of a Truckers show, but in this stripped-down setting, the vivid lyricism of songs like “Tornados” and “Used to Be a Cop” was allowed to shine. Other highlights of the set included the ponderous autobiographical tune “The Opening Act,” “Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife” dripping with Funk’s atmospheric guitar textures before segueing seamlessly into “The Righteous Path,” and “Daddy Needs a Drink,” one of Hood’s most perfect slower tunes.
With a handful of deep cuts, rich stories, and a bottle being passed back and forth with Funk, Hood was in fine form throughout the night. Following his invitation for the audience to sing along on the Truckers’ quintessential alt-country tune “Bulldozers and Dirty,” he dipped into what he termed his “family mythology” tunes with “Old Timer’s Disease” off his solo album Murdering Oscar, the old-school Trucker number “Box of Spiders,” and the other Oscar tune “Granddaddy.” By the time Hood and Funk rounded things out with “Runaway Train” – complete with Soul Asylum jokes – from the Truckers’ predecessor Adam’s House Cat, the epic Alabama tale of “Ronnie and Neil,” and newer tune “The Driver,” they had nearly passed the two-hour mark. They would return for even more following a standing ovation from the mostly seated crowd, concluding another year of this most excellent holiday tradition.
All photos by Greg Homolka.
