The latest single from Drive By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hood is the beautifully-written, arranged and produced “The Forks of Cypress”. The song, already epic-sounding, is enhanced by vocal accompaniment from the outstanding Waxahatchee (Katie Crutchfield); their voices wrap around one another, blending perfectly while Kevin Morby’s guitar and multi-instrumentalist Phil Cook’s piano, organ and Dobro weave together ethereal notes.
The lyrics are compelling poetry, full of rich language and descriptive power: “Twilight in the field and the rains came pouring down // Waited for your call then drove back into town // Blood red and golden leaves were falling to the ground // Cinematic wet streets, reflect the clouds.”
Hood says of the song: “The Forks of Cypress a real place, a few miles just north of my hometown of Florence, Alabama. A former plantation house, once owned by a cousin of Andrew Jackson, it was struck by a ‘lightning cluster’ in 1966 – when I was two – and exploded into flames, burning to the ground in under five minutes. All that was left were these huge columns, in a rectangle on top of the hill overlooking the meadow. It was right by a very creepy rickety one lane bridge that the locals called Ghost Bridge. I drove past this (and crossed the scary bridge) every week of my childhood on my way to my Great Uncle’s house (where I spent every weekend). Later, as a teenager, kids would drive dates out to Ghost Bridge and tell ghost stories and make out. The bridge was torn down about a decade ago. I wrote the song as pure fiction, inspired by those great story songs that Bobbie Gentry did, an ‘Ode to Billie Joe,’ etc., where she implies a story without really telling it. In my head, I heard Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee) singing it with me and was blessed that she was willing to do so. She’s one of my very favorite artists, and such a lovely person. The song was fleshed out wonderfully by Phil and Brad Cook (who played keyboards, dobro and bass on it), Dan Hunt on drums, and then Kevin Morby put the cherry on top with a stunning lead part.”
The video was filmed by Bradley Wagner and Juan M. Soria at the historic Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY before Drive By Truckers appeared on stage during their “Southern Rock Opera Revisited Tour”. There’s additional footage of Hood’s hometown shot by local pilot John David Apkarian of Wings Over Bama – really effective and artfully-shot images that add to the moody feel of the song and narrative.
This is the latest single taken from “Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams”, the first Patterson Hood solo album in 12 years. The brand new record is out now and is already an early contender for album-of-the-year. Our friends in the US will have the opportunity to catch Patterson Hood on tour throughout the spring.
