On a recent afternoon at the Grit Restaurant in Athens, Patterson Hood orders his usual — a Mondo Burrito and a cup of coffee. "Imagine that," he says, laughing as the waiter nods.
Like so many other musicians (including members of R.E.M. and the B-52s), Hood, who's taking a break from recording a new album with his band, the Drive-By Truckers, favors the Grit's healthy cooking and laid-back vibe. Plus, it's close to home. Hood lives a few minutes away with his wife, Rebecca, and their 4-year-old daughter, Ava Ruth.
"I moved to Athens, GA on April Fools Day, 1994," Hood writes in the liner notes to his new solo album, "Murdering Oscar (and other love songs)," due out Tuesday on his own Ruth St. Records. "Perhaps I thought I was kidding myself, just stopping by on my way to the bigger city an hour to the Southwest."
Of course, Hood, an Alabama native, stayed put in Athens, reuniting with his longtime music partner, Mike Cooley, to form what would become DBT. Together, they forged a sound that mixed smart alt-country with swaggering Southern rock.
The band's 2001 breakthrough album, "Southern Rock Opera," sealed a deal with Lost Highway Records. Since then, Hood has anchored various Truckers lineups, helping create a string of critically acclaimed recordings and lately working with soul greats Bettye LaVette and Booker T. Jones.
Hood says "Murdering Oscar" sounds a lot like the current incarnation of DBT, with keyboards and pedal steel mixing it up with guitar, bass and drums. But many of the songs date some 15 years to his earliest days in Athens, when Hood first recorded them on a boombox in his roommate's bedroom ("it had better acoustics than my room") and dubbed the homemade demos onto cassettes he passed out to friends.
"I imagine those are collectors items now," Hood said, smiling. "If any are still around, they may start showing up on eBay."
But buyer beware: Some of that old stuff is pretty dark. "Heavy and Hanging" was written the day Kurt Cobain was found dead. "Screwtopia" is a seething rant against domestic tranquility. And the doomful lead track was inspired by the movie "Crimes and Misdemeanors."
"I still think it's one of Woody Allen's very best films," Hood said. "I've probably done more than my share of train songs and killing songs. But despite the title, this album really doesn't have that much killing in it."
In fact, "Oscar" showcases some of the sweetest songs Hood has ever written, including a special one for his daughter called "Grandaddy." It was conceived just before she was born in late 2004, when Hood dug out an original "Oscar" cassette and decided to write a few more cheerful "counterpoint" tunes.
"I couldn't really do a whole album of those songs," Hood said. "But I really like the '94 songs. I thought I really hit my stride in a lot of ways as a writer, and in some areas, I moved on from there pretty quickly, so that's kind of a unique period."
The new, improved "Oscar" was recorded in Athens with longtime DBT producer David Barbe. Hood's father, bassist and famed Muscle Shoals session man David Hood, appears, along with several of the Truckers and Scott Danbom and Will Johnson from Hood's "favorite band," Centro-matic.
You can see Hood playing songs from "Oscar" on tour this summer — including a hometown date at Athfest on June 27 — with the Screwtopians, a band that includes Barbe, Danbom and Johnson, as well as Truckers Brad Morgan and John Neff.
Hood says things have been great with the Truckers lately, both in the studio and onstage. And besides being out with the Screwtopians, he's looking forward to summer dates with DBT and Booker T.
"I'm all about fun," Hood said. "I'm at a point in my life that if it's not fun or benefiting my family — and preferably both — then I just don't want to do it.
"All that talk about great art coming from drama — forget that. I've been there, I've had enough of that to draw on for the rest of my life. I don't need it in my day-to-day life, and I sure as hell don't need it in my band."
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