Drive-By Truckers Release New Election-Themed Song “The Perilous Night”

To mark the one-year anniversary of 2016’s Election Day, the Drive-By Truckers have released a new song, “The Perilous Night.” Technically released a day prior to the election’s anniversary, the track chronicles both the night itself as well as the year’s worth of events that have transpired since.

While the ominous track is now available digitally, it will also be released as a limited edition 7″ via ATO Records on December 15. The 7″ will also feature a live Newport Folk Festival recording of American Band track “What It Means,” and proceeds from sales will benefit the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In a statement shared with the release of “The Perilous Night,” the band’s Patterson Hood says, “I began writing it on the day the Electoral College met in December 2016 and completed it in the wake of the horrific events in Charlottesville, VA last summer. We recorded it in Athens, GA during a break in our fall tour and mixed it on the day Tom Petty passed away. It may be the darkest song I’ve ever written, but it’s also a dance song. Turn it up!”

The track’s lyrics pull no punches, with lines that include:

“The Klan and the Nazis are taking up the fight

against their own salvation in the savior’s light

We’re moving into the perilous night, Amen

Flags of oppression are blocking out the light

dismantling The Greatest Generation’s fight

We’re moving into the perilous night, Amen”

Listen to “The Perilous Night” below.