Dimmer Twins: Mike Cooley & Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers

Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, a.k.a. the “Dimmer Twins,” formed the Drive-By Truckers in Athens, Georgia in 1996, though their musical collaboration began in the ’80s with the fledgling band Adam’s House Cat. The name Dimmer Twins is a nod to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, who are sometimes known as the “Glimmer Twins.” This stripped-down duo setting features original solo and duo material penned by both Hood and Cooley, and also some Drive-By Truckers songs that they’ve written.

Boasting a mix of Southern pride and erudite lyrics, Drive-By Truckers became one of the most well-respected Alternative Country-Rock acts of the 2000s. The band has long held a progressive fire in their belly having always been outspoken, telling a distinctly American story via craft, character, and concept, all backed by sonic ambition and social conscience.

History, folklore, politics, and character studies all shared equal space in the Drive-By Truckers’ catalog, which offered up its first blast of gutsy, twangy rock with 1998’s Gangstabilly. However, it was the band’s ambitious double-disc concept album, The Southern Rock Opera, that became its unlikely magnum opus. A two-act affair, the album explored Hood’s fascination with 70s Southern Rock while tackling the cultural contradictions of the region, and it helped lay the groundwork for much of the band’s later work.