[Cover photo credit to Jason Thrasher]
Drive-By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hood has shared “The Forks of Cypress (feat. Waxahatchee),” the latest single, featuring Katie Crutchfield, from his new solo album, Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams, arriving via ATO Records on Friday, February 21, 2025.
An official music video, filmed by Bradley Wagner and Juan M. Soria, was captured at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY before Drive-By Truckers took the stage on their Southern Rock Opera Revisited Tour earlier this year. It also features aerial footage of Hood’s hometown of Florence, AL provided by local pilot John David Apkarian of Wings Over Bama.
Patterson Hood says:
“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. Whipped cream and cherry.”
Produced by Chris Funk (The Decemberists, Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks) at various studios in Hood’s current hometown of Portland, OR, Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams is supported by a cast of friends and fellow musicians including Waxahatchee, Brad and Phil Cook (Megafaun), Kevin Morby, Wednesday, Brad Morgan and Jay Gonzalez (Drive-By Truckers), Steve Berlin (Los Lobos, The Blasters), David Barbe (Sugar, Mercyland), Nate Query (The Decemberists), Steve Drizos (Jerry Joseph and The Jackmormons), Daniel Hunt (Neko Case, M Ward), and Stuart Bogie (The Hold Steady, Goose).
PATTERSON HOOD AND THE SENSURROUNDERS
EXPLODING TREES & AIRPLANE SCREAMS 2025 TOUR
MARCH
18 – Somerville, MA – Arts at the Armory *
19 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Made *
21 – Sellersville, PA – Sellersville Theater *
22 – Washington, DC – The Atlantis *
23 – Washington, DC – The Atlantis *
25 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle *
26 – Atlanta, GA – Terminal West *
28 – Birmingham, AL – Saturn *
29 – Nashville, TN – Eastside Bowl *
30 – Indianapolis, IN – HI-FI Indy *
APRIL
1 – Chicago, IL – Old Town School of Folk Music *
2 – Evanston, IL – SPACE *
4 – St. Louis, MO – Off Broadway *
5 – Louisville, KY – The Whirling Tiger *
30 – New Orleans, LA – Chickie Wah Wah
MAY
2 – Little Rock, AR – White Water Tavern †
3 – Little Rock, AR – White Water Tavern †
24 – Charleston, SC – Spoleto Festival USA ^
* w/ Special Guest Lydia Loveless
† Patterson Hood Solo
^ w/ Special Guest MJ Lenderman
