REVIEW -- PATTERSON HOOD: MURDERING OSCAR (AND OTHER LOVE SONGS)

Patterson Hood

Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs)

(Ruth St.)

In 1994, a couple of years before he began writing the Drive-By Truckers’ breakthrough album, Southern Rock Opera, Patterson Hood recorded a bunch of songs on a boom box in a friend’s bedroom. The album was shelved for more than 10 years before Hood revisited the songs and re-recorded them with many of his Trucker bandmates and other assorted pals. Then it sat on the shelf for another four years. Murdering Oscar (And Other Love Songs) has had a long and thorny path to release, but anyone familiar with Hood’s prolific output over the past decade will recognize traces of the Truckers’ more rambling and story-based songs in this set. A few of the tracks – like “Pollyanna” and “Screwtopia” – blend some hooks into the guitar workouts. But most of the songs sound like blueprints to the Truckers’ meaty slabs of rock ‘n’ roll folklore. --Michael Gallucci