Patterson Hood is angry. Very angry. Because as an American and passionate Southerner, he has a president who has been in office for three years and who is constantly throwing around slogans like "America First" or "Make America Great Again". Which in the eyes of Donald Trump, of course, only works if he is elected again in November. What Hood, the 55-year-old singer, guitarist and lyricist of the Drive-By Truckers, wants to prevent at all costs ...
eclipsed: Why are you so angry with the president?
Patterson Hood: This guy, whose name I don't want to put in my mouth, is the cleaver of the nation. I've always thought it was great that the US is made up of more than 50 different states. What a diversity! But this guy is playing the individual states off against each other. For him, there's only pros. Or contra. No in between. A horror! Liberal Americans like me - a patriot through and through - and my children are constantly insulted by this creep. And I keep getting asked about this guy outside the United States. I'm constantly having to justify myself for him. And all I want to do is just get this nightmare over with.
eclipsed: "The Unraveling" in English means "unraveling" or "dissolving". Why did you choose this title for the new album?
Hood: It has become a record on which I have somehow brought my somewhat quirky thoughts into line with the "normal" world without adapting to a prevailing opinion. At the same time it has become not only an angry but also a deeply sad record. I feel sorry for this, both for my fellow musicians and for our listeners who have to put up with all the misery. But this guy there left me no other choice! We wanted to make an album about the real America of today. About the beauty of this country, the real values of its people, the uniqueness of our nation. And because we currently have this idiot in the White House, all we could come up with was a grim reckoning with his politics.
eclipsed: Why did you record "The Unraveling" in the country rock mecca of Memphis?
Hood: That was a fountain of youth for our already somewhat aged band. I say boldly that we've never done anything like this before. Everything on the record is magical, honest, full of energy. The fact that all nine titles were recorded in one or two takes also proves this to me. Together in the studio, started, finished. What a miracle!
