Rock-and-Roll, Progressive Politics, and the Dirty South

An evening of conversation and music with thelead singers of the Drive-By-Truckers, Michael Cooley and Patterson Hood with Jonathan Rieder.

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

McCosh Hall, Room 50; 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm

The two co-founders of the Drive-By Truckers, Patterson Hood and Michael Cooley, will join Barnard Sociologist Jonathan Rieder for a conversation about Rock-n-Roll, the South, and the role of music in the Age of Trump. Founded in 1996 by the Alabama-born Cooley and Hood, for decades the Truckers have crafted their often surreal, often poignant Southern Gothic tales of people at the margins of America with literary skill and sonic power, and the band has long held a progressive fire in their belly. But with their 2016 album American Band, they have made their most explicitly political album yet as they consider an America wracked by battles over the Confederate Flag, the killing of black men, mean attacks on immigrants, mass shootings and much more. Cooley and Patterson will discuss the album, their own history and the role of music in the protest politics of our era.  In addition to the conversation, Cooley and Hood will perform several songs from their new album.

Jonathan Rieder is professor of Sociology, Barnard College and a member of the graduate faculty, Columbia University. His most recent books are Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter From Birmingham Jail and the Struggle That Changed a Nation (2013) and The Word of the Lord Is upon Me: The Righteous Performance of Martin Luther King, Jr. (2008). He is currently working on a project entitled Crossing Over: Black-White Encounters in the Transition from Rhythm and Blues to Soul and Rock.

This event, co-sponsored by the Spencer Trask Lecture Series, the Lewis Center for the Arts, the Program in American Studies, and the Woodrow Wilson School, is free and open to the public with no ticket or reservation required.