• Reviews

• All
• Music
• DVDs
• Live
• Cinema
• TV
• Books
• Comic Books
• Video Games

Apr 11, 2025 Web Exclusive By Kyle Mullin

Though his work in the Drive-By Truckers is among the most acclaimed in all of alt-country, Patterson Hood’s excellent—albeit occasionally more experimental—solo albums should by no means go overlooked. More listeners are sure to come around now that he has released Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams.

Chalk part of that up to guest turns from some of the genre’s hottest up and comers such as Lydia Loveless, Wednesday, and Waxahatchee. And behind the boards his old friend Chris Funk, of beloved indie rockers The Decemberists, offers complex instrumentation that emotionally underscores the narrative arcs in Hood’s lyrics.

Take the opening track “Exploding Trees.” As slowly unfurling piano notes resound—a hallmark of this album because Hood usually composes songs on guitar—he grippingly sings about storms and tumult. Then, perfectly timed percussion crashes to fittingly evoke the title and his powerfully written themes. “The Pool House,” meanwhile, starts off spare. But Hood’s vivid lyrics about a protagonist holding their breath and sinking well beneath the water’s surface is followed by anxiously squealing fiddles and drums that sound hammered by wave after wave. Then there’s the thrumming guitar and reverb drenched percussion that make “The Forks of Cypress’” misty, tear jerking lyrics resonate all the more. Hood and Waxahatchee harmonize on that key track while the latter’s husband, Kevin Morby, lays down guitar licks that dazzle like the love’s splendor the Truckers frontman is singing about.

It sure is satisfying to hear Hood blast past his comfort zone with these nuanced songs that he penned on the piano. Yet, when the revving guitar and braying singing we’ve come to expect from the Truckers frontman kick in on “The Van Pelt Parties,” it’s an every bit as exciting return to form. What’s more: alt-country it-band Wednesday help Hood pack an even bigger punch with Karly Hartzman’s soaring harmonizing, along with Xandy Chelmis’s pedal steel gnarling against star guitarist MJ Lenderman’s riffs (no wonder Hood recently called them one of his favorite new bands).

Yes, the big name collaborations are sure to turn heads. But they of course flocked to work with Hood because he’s a living Americana legend. And from his increasingly adventurous writing on the keys, to his literary as ever lyrics, Hood’s bonafides abound on Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams. (www.pattersonhood.com)

Author rating: 8.5/10