Southern Paternal Generationalism and the Rhetoric of the Drive-By Truckers

This essay examines Southern paternal generational themes in the lyrics of the alt-country band the Drive-By Truckers (DBT) to get a better sense for how the songs’ agents work to construct a progressive White Southern character that at once embraces the stories and advice of the past, but often does so in ways that move the stories outside of Southern stereotypes. Ultimately, the analysis reveals that select DBT songs inscribe a paternal generationalism that plays out as a larger story of the “Progressive South” and unfolds through three thematic components. First, the lyrics reflect a sense of the American Dream as both a goal and sham; despite one's industriousness, dejection is the likely result. Second, the songs demonstrate a balance on the part of the protagonists between recalling and treasuring one's past and “casuistically stretching” the past in order to make it fit a new progressive rebel. Finally, the lyrics demonstrate a reliance on hegemonically masculine characteristics that complicate paternal generationalism.