Alternative-country outfit Drive-By Truckers are back with a new lyric video for “21st Century USA,” which was featured on their last studio album The Unraveling, released back in January. This latest lyric video shows off aerial shots of various American cities, intercut with images of the American flag.
“21st Century USA,” is done in a traditional country style, with jangly guitars, a honky tonk feel with its violins and piano chords that help carry the instrumental. The band’s pointed political satire is on display here, with lyrics such as “All American but Chinese made” and “Workin hard for shrinkin pay.”
“I wrote this song during a rest stop outside of Gillette, Wyoming in January of 2018,” the band’s co-frontman Patterson Hood said in a statement to Rolling Stone. “Its blending of the personal and political provided the breakthrough moment for me during the writing of the group of songs that made up our album.”
Drive-By Truckers released a new song back in July called “Sea Island Lonely,” which was reportedly written on drive between Sea Island, GA to Jacksonville, FL. The Unraveling featured a plethora of political themes, that were present on its songs “Thoughts and Prayers,” which critiqued gun violence and “”Armageddon’s Back In Town.” a rebuke of Donald Trump.
The band’s political themes were also extremely present on their previous release American Band, which also dealt with America’s complicated racial history. Hood recently apologized for what he called “drunken joke” of a band name, while poking fun at Lady A(formerly known as Lady Antebellum) back in June.
Leave a Comment