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Biography:EvolutionPatterson Hood grew up in Florence, Alabama, across the Tennessee River from Muscle Shoals. He began writing songs when he was in third grade and began playing guitar in bands at about the age of 14. In 1985, he began a band with college roommate Mike Cooley. His father, David Hood, of the legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section played with Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Cliff, Traffic, The Staple Singers, Bob Seger, Paul Simon and Rod Stewart among others. Patterson and Cooley's college band, Adam's House Cat, played together for six years, making an EP and a finished (but still unreleased) album, Town Burned Down. They also were 1st Place Winners in Musician Magazine's Best Unsigned Band Contest, and their song “Smiling At Girls” appeared on Warner Bros./ Musician Compilation (Best of the BUBS) in 1988.After Adam's House Cat broke up, Cooley and Hood moved to Memphis and later to Auburn, AL playing shows as an acoustic duo (Virgil Kane) and in a band (Horse Pussy) before going separate ways. Hood settled in Athens, GA in early 1994, playing solo anywhere they would let him. Drive-By TruckersIn 1996 he and Cooley reunited and formed Drive-By Truckers. In 1998 they released their first of five albums to date and hit the road with a vengeance. Nearly 1000 shows later, Drive-By Truckers is one of the most critically acclaimed bands in America. DBT's most recent album Decoration Day has appeared on many year-end critics lists including a Top Ten finish in the Village Voice's prestigious Pazz and Jop poll and Robert Christgau's Dean's List. Their new album The Dirty South is set for an August 2004 release.DBT first gained national recognition for their sprawling double CD, Southern Rock Opera, in 2001. Although initially released independently, SRO received a 4 star review from Rolling Stone Magazine and was eventually picked up by Lost Highway Records in 2002. Killers and StarsThe making of Southern Rock Opera was a very turbulent period that nearly broke up the band and took its toll on all of the members' personal lives. Hood went through a divorce during that period and, like the cliché goes, wrote a ton of new songs. Many of those songs ended up on Decoration Day but a separate (solo) album also emerged. Hood recorded Killers and Stars by himself in his kitchen in early March 2001. The album was never really intended for release, but a few homemade copies were burned and sold at solo shows and it became a bit of an underground collectable.This year, Patterson finally decided to make it “officially” available. New West Records (also home to DBT) is releasing it this Spring, mastered and properly packaged. The album is somewhat quieter and spookier than DBT's releases, but it shares some of the same vibe and humor. Killers and Stars has 12 songs, simply featuring acoustic guitars, mandolin and harmony vocals. It features “Uncle Disney” which Patterson has been performing frequently at DBT shows, as well as “Old Timers Disease”, “Phil's Transplant”, and Hood's cover of Tom T. Hall's “Pay No Attention To Alice”. Patterson Hood plans to spend 2004 touring with Drive-By Truckers and whenever possible playing solo shows and writing new songs. Top of Page  Close this window |
