45. Stephen Deusner Discusses Drive-By Truckers, Decoration Day

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Stephen Deusner, author of Where the Devil Don't Stay: Traveling the South with the Drive-By Truckers, drops by the show to talk about — who else? — the Drive-By Truckers and their acclaimed 2003 album, Decoration Day. In addition to breaking down each of the album’s 15 tracks, Stephen reflects on how he became a music journalist, how being a music journalist shapes his music-listening habits and when he first had the idea to write a book about DBT.

You can keep up with Stephen on Twitter at @stephenmdeusner and on Instagram at @stephendeusner, as well as on his website, https://www.stephendeusner.com/.

Al is on Twitter at @almelchiorBB, and this show has accounts on Twitter and Instagram at @youmealbum. Be sure to follow @youmealbum to find out in advance about upcoming guests and featured albums for this podcast.

1:19 Stephen joins the show

2:48 Moving around a lot has informed Stephen’s understanding of how place can impact music

4:55 When Stephen reviews an album, he tries to listen to it in several different places

7:03 Stephen prefers listening to older music when not listening for work

10:32 Stephen didn’t set out to become a music journalist

13:43 Stephen has had the idea to write a book about Drive-By Truckers for a long time

17:13 Stephen and Al were both initially put off by DBT’s name

22:39 The songs from Decoration Day became familiar to both Stephen and Al very quickly

24:40 Stephen thinks the way DBT tells stories makes the songs easier to remember

27:20 Stephen recounts how Jason Isbell joined DBT

Track-by-track breakdown (clustered by songwriter)

30:48 Outfit

36:09 Decoration Day

40:49 Marry Me

45:53 Sounds Better in the Song

48:17 Loaded Gun in the Closet

52:17 When the Pin Hits the Shell

54:43 Do It Yourself

56:30 Careless

58:31 Your Daddy Hates Me

1:02:34 Heathens

1:07:08 The Deeper In

1:11:53 Heathens (again)

1:13:45 My Sweet Annette

1:17:38 Sinkhole

1:23:59 Hell No, I Ain’t Happy/(Something’s Got To) Give Pretty Soon

1:26:27 Listening to DBT gives Stephen a sense of mission

1:29:40 Stephen has already started to think about his next projects

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