Lydia Loveless is happy to play second fiddle — er, bass — for a spell

Washington Post

19-03-2025

Patterson Hood had only one candidate in mind when he needed a duet partner for what was to be the first single from 'Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams,' the Drive-By Truckers co-front man's first solo album in 12.5 years. The singer was Lydia Loveless. The song was 'A Werewolf and a Girl,' an unsentimental, down-tempo reflection Hood had written in 2021 about a formative encounter with his high school sweetheart some 40 years earlier.
Loveless might seem like a surprising choice to sing the part of Hood's long-ago partner for several reasons, not least that the prolific Ohio singer-songwriter is Hood's junior by 26 years. But she'd been a fan of the Drive-By Truckers, Hood's hard-touring, critically adored rock outfit, since she was 16, and on friendly terms with Hood since she'd opened some dates on the tour for Hood's prior solo record, 2012's 'Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance.' Hood was confident that given their mutual respect, and Loveless's lyrics that address sex and relationships in her own frank terms, she was the singer for the job. Loveless tracked her vocal remotely, the day after Hood sent her the song.
'I think he was impressed by how quickly I got it finished,' she says. That unstudied, extemporaneous quality gives the recording a visceral impact, and Loveless's brassy, Loretta Lynn-inflected voice contrasts with Hood's raspier, more conversational instrument better than you might've guessed.
When I describe the youthful experience addressed in 'A Werewolf and a Girl' as seminal, Loveless jumps in to say, 'Literally!'
'It was funny because he was like, 'I don't know if you're going to find this song creepy, because it's kind of personal and a little sexual,'' Loveless recalls. 'And I was like, 'Oh, whatever.' It wasn't until after the song came out and I was listening to it that I was like, 'Oh, wow, this does go pretty deeply into some stuff.' But I didn't even think of it while I was working on it.'
Loveless, whose most recent album of new music was 2023's 'Nothing's Gonna Stand in My Way Again,' will open 14 dates on Hood's 'Exploding Trees' tour, including a weekend stand at D.C.'s cozy Atlantis, with solo sets accompanying herself on guitar and piano. Last year, she put out 'Something Else,' which rearranged the songs from her 2014 album 'Somewhere Else' as piano ballads, so we'll probably hear several of those. The Columbus, Ohio-based roots rocker is gearing up to write her next full-length, and in the meantime, she's releasing a new song each month on Bandcamp. Last month, a new Loveless ballad called 'Accolades' followed January's release, a cover of Irving Berlin's 1923 torch song 'What'll I Do.'
She's also playing bass in the Sensurrounders, the band Hood has put together to back his headlining sets, which means learning a lot of new material. (Sensurround was a short-lived precursor to modern-day movie surround sound, a floor-rattling novelty rolled out with the 1974 disaster film 'Earthquake.') Bass was Loveless's instrument way back when she was playing in a band with her dad and her sisters, starting at age 13. She also played bass on much of her 2020 album 'Daughter,' but it's been a long time since she worked as a bassist in front of a paying crowd. She says she's learning the songs in a way her old piano teacher used to scold her for — playing by ear, rather than using charts.
In her recollection, stepping in as Hood's bass player was her idea. 'I was pretty buzzed,' she says, laughing. 'I think it was Hemingway who said, 'Always do sober what you say you'll do drunk, and it will teach you to keep your mouth shut.' But I don't know, I'm pretty stoked about it.'
March 22 at 7:30 p.m. and March 23 at 6:30 p.m. at the Atlantis, 2047 Ninth St. NW. theatlantis.com. $35 (Saturday sold out).