Top 50 Songs of the Decade, #32 - "Ever South," Drive-By Truckers

Drive-By Truckers have been around now for more than 20 years.  They've gone through numerous personnel changes (at one time, Jason Isbell was a member), but the heart of the band has always been the duo that jokingly refers to themselves as "The Dimmer Twins": Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley.  Of the two, Hood has been the more prolific songwriter, though that's changed a bit on recent albums.  Born and raised in Alabama, Hood has frequently written and sung about what he calls "the duality of the Southern thing."  In an earlier song, he sang about "the three great Alabama icons" - George Wallace, Bear Bryant, and Ronnie Van Zant.  As that particular song segues into the next, Wallace is seated with Devil down in you-know where, sipping an ice cold glass of sweet tea.

A couple of years ago, Hood moved with his family to Portland, Oregon, nearly a continent away.  "Ever South" chronicles the history of his family in the south, the move to Portland, and in the final verse closes with the recognition that no matter where he lives, he is always going to be "ever south."  

Ever Southern in my carriage, ever southern in my stance

In the Irish of my complexion and the Scottish in my dance

In the way I bang my head against my daily circumstance

Let this blue eyed southern devil take you out upon the prowl

With decadence and chart we'll take it into town

Tell you stories of our fathers and the glories of our house

Always told a little slower, ever south

Top 50 Songs of the Decade, #32 - "Ever South," Drive-By Truckers