The Fine Print [Best of]

This is truly a mixed bag of tracks from Drive By Truckers covering the 2003-2008 period. A true odds and sods collection where you have a total of 12 songs, eight of which have been written by DBT (2 of these are alternate versions of songs from other DBT albums) and 4 excellent cover songs.
Many times these collections from bands don't work that well but that is not the case here. I think the layout of the album is excellent which in my opinion makes the album flow together well. Overall, some excellent songs from the vaults.
The standout DBT songs to me at this point are:
- George Jones Talking Cell Phone Blues - Excellent country rocker from Patterson Hood to kick off the album.
- TVA & When the Well Runs Dry - 2 Excellent Jason Isbell songs. If you enjoyed this period of the DBT you should appreciate these songs. The lyrics to TVA are great.

I think what puts this album over the top for me are the covers:

Play it All Night Long - A Classic Warren Zevon song which DBT absolutely tear up.

Mama Bake a Pie (Daddy Kill a Chicken) - A Tom T. Hall tune which I was not familiar with but great lyrics about a soldier coming home from Vietnam. Very well done.

Like a Rolling Stone - At first I was thinking, Great just what I need is another version of this song but it is Done really nicely with Patterson Hood, Shonna Tucker, Jason Isbell and Mike Cooley each taking a verse and then coming together at the end.. Very nicely done.

I think if you are a DBT fan, it is a must have. I don't think you will be disappointed. If you haven't been exposed to DBT yet and not familiar with their music, I think this isn't a bad place to start!

I must say that I am really impressed with this rarities album. This album is one or two songs from being a great "studio" album. What else excites me is that this oddities album takes me back to the time when the Truckers were making great records that made me feel like it was acceptable to be born and raised in the south. There are so many stereotypes that come along with being from the south but the Truckers wrote songs that made me feel like I was not the only one in my generation who found it difficult to be raised there. To me the last two albums were good but the lyrics seemed to lose their southern charm and they were written more for a wider audience. Lastly, it's great to hear a Jason Isbell song on a Drive by Truckers album. I have tried to like his solo albums but it's not the same as when he was with the Truckers when he too wrote songs about the southern way of life. This is album is absolutely worth getting.

An assortment of outtakes and covers from the 2000's, "The Fine Print" manages to hold together as a cohesive DBT album thanks to the strength of the material. Apart from the inspired covers, the highlights of the collection have to be two Jason Isbell songs which are Must Haves simply because they add to the too few Isbel/DBT tracks in release, with "TVA" being an instant Isbell keeper, a somber track that would have fit in perfectly with the tales of despair and struggle on "The Dirty South". The bulk of the tracks are Hood's, from the "Carl Perkin's Cadillac"-esque "George Jones Talkin' Cell Phone Blues" (inspired by a near death accident Jones had as a result of talking on his cell phone), the typical Hood narrative "The Great Car Dealer War", and the alternate version of "Goode's Field Road" which lacks the slow burn of the original but nonetheless brings a new dimension to the song. Sadly, Cooley is represented on only two tracks, one of them being an updated "Uncle Frank", which brings new life to a live classic.
It is the covers, however, which push this album to another level. "Rebels" may be the perfect choice for a DBT cover, with every lyric sounding as if it could have been written by Hood's pen in the first place. "Mama Bake A Pie" is an effective war protest song, more subtle than Hood's anti-war efforts from "Brighter Than Creation's Dark". "Play It All Night Long", a live powerhouse, pays tribute to Zevon while lending a Southern edge. And amazingly enough, the cover of "Like A Rolling Stone" works, which in itself is a testament to the band.
This album fails to touch the Holy Three (Southern Rock, Decoration, Dirty) nor does it achieve the majesty of "Brighter", but it is a solid effort and finds that the band has deep pockets.