Mike Cooley is one of three guitarists in the Athens, Georgia-based, Alabama born-and-bred rock band Drive-By Truckers. All three guitarists (Patterson Hood and Jason Isbell are the other two) have penned and sung the tracks for the last three records, starting with Decoration Day. While Hood is the primary songwriter, Isbell, who didn�t join until Day, seems to get just as much attention from reviews, while Cooley, who usually provides two or three tracks each record, never seems to get the praise he deserves, despite the fact that he�s the best songwriter of the bunch.

He doesn�t take on the same type of �mythology of the South� type issues that make up the songs of both Hood and Isbell. He doesn�t write about Buford Pusser or the Hatfields and the McCoys, nor does he try to make you relate to a girl who just wants to have sex with her ex-con brother (sorry Pat, just ain�t happenin�). Cooley�s tracks tend to be the most personal and affecting songs on the Truckers� albums.

�Marry Me� from 2001�s Decoration Day is a perfect primer for Cooley�s style. Without doing any beating around the bush, he comes out of the gates at full speed with the first verse, �Well, my daddy didn�t pull out, but he never apologized / Rock&roll means well, but it can�t help tellin� young boys lies / A baby on the way�s a good enough reason to get you out alive / Get you out without having to swallow any pride.� Clearly, the author is not talking about the happiest of circumstances�but with its Stones-y riff, barroom piano and all around guys� night out feel, one wouldn�t realize that there�s a snake in the grass here�that Cooley�s lyrics are telling a tale that�s a few shades darker than its title might suggest.

Cooley continues his brand of playfully sardonic lyrics over a killer hook and greasy slide guitar lick with �Gravity�s Gone,� from the mostly disappointing 2006 release A Blessing and a Curse. With prime Cooley wit and blunt honesty, he ruminates on the entertainment industry, offering, �Cocaine rich comes quick and that’s why the small dicks have it all.� His tricky wordplay continues with the lines �So I�ll meet you at the bottom if there really is one / They always told me when you hit it that you�ll know it / But I�ve been falling so long it�s like gravity�s gone and I�m just floating.� It�s the best and most effortless song on an album trying way too hard to be easy and fun.

On the flipside, Cooley shows an unexpected restraint and an affecting subtlety with the spare �Sounds Better in the Song� from Decoration Day. Few songs these days seem to give the listener an actual picture of the desperation and heartbreak the singer is feeling while they�re actually recording the song. The song�s production makes Cooley�s voice and steadily finger-picked acoustic guitar sound as if he�s squatting in the corner of a not-exactly-soundproofed room, too depressed to even move towards the mic that sits on the other side of the room. If there�s a 21st century equivalent of the scratchy, raw Delta blues recordings of the 1930s, it probably sounds a lot like this.

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