It takes chutzpah put the words rock and opera in an album title. Adding Southern means you have some serious clankers; people might think youre dissing Mom, apple pie, the Confederacy and Sweet Home Alabama in one fell swoop. But thats what the Drive-By Truckers did with their fourth release, A Southern Rock Opera, the raggedly brilliant Lynyrd Skynyrd-inspired saga of a young guitarist trying to escape his Dixieness, then realizing that hes a Southern man after all. It hit No. 50 on the Billboard Top 200 and kicked the roots-rock band into high buzz mode. Then they released the equally literate-yet-ass-kickin The Dirty South; the DVD, Live at the 40 Watt: August 27 & 28, 2004; and 2006s A Blessing and a Curse, which earned them the Americana Music Associations 06 Duo/Group of the Year Award and provoked an All Music Guide critic to call them the best hard-rock band in America today. And the Truckers just keep on trucking at full-throttle speed, as evidenced by this years typically sterling Brighter Than Creations Dark.