Nan Einhart: It’s Fucking Great to Be Alive

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My mom and I have attended at least 10 Drive-By Truckers shows together, including meetups in Alabama, Colorado, Texas, New York, and California. But we really went for it in 2015, when DBT played Vinyl Music Hall in Pensacola, where I grew up and where my mom still lives. My mom, whose name is Nan, recruited me and seven other women and hired a limo to drive us to and from the venue.

When we arrived, Nan attempted to shout her drink order of scotch and soda, and the bartender instead served her something with cranberry juice. To prevent further confusion, she obtained a Sharpie — not sure how she found a Sharpie, but her friend Sally had dinner rolls in her purse, so anything is possible — and wrote her drink order on her hand. “I tipped him 20 bucks, and he took great care of us for the rest of the night,” Nan says.

My mom, who turns 78 on Feb. 15, keeps threatening to retire from seeing live music, but when I invite her to Drive-By Truckers shows, she keeps showing up. Ahead of HeAthens Homecoming, we sat down to reminisce about our shared DBT history and the best shows she has attended without me.  

How and when did you discover the Drive-By Truckers?

In 2004, I was having treatment for back problems, and I had to be strapped into this device for an hour three times a week. I could listen to music, so you sent me Decoration Day and Southern Rock Opera. I listened to them, and I was just captivated, because I was actually captive. I had nothing else to do except listen. It was just like, “Oh my gosh. Why haven't I ever heard these people? From then on, I was a fan.”

Related: Old Enough to Know Better

Do you remember what it was about the music that made you feel so captivated?

The music reminded me of being in high school, even though I call myself a recovering Southerner and my perspective has changed since high school. They were talking about the things I wanted to be in high school. I just love their philosophy. 

The phrase “the duality of the Southern thing” resonated with me. I am definitely a poster child for that, because I grew up normalizing so many things in my small town in Mississippi, and then when I went off to college at Ole Miss — that was right after James Meredith had been there — I could see that things were just not right. Ever since then, I’ve been going through a gradual evolution to become the extreme progressive I am now.

Do you remember which song on those first two albums really hooked you?

Well, “Women Without Whiskey.” That is my all-time favorite song of theirs. I have a lot of alcoholics in my family, and I've seen some of them struggling and I've seen some of them just give in. That song especially reminds me of my brother Johnny, because he was not only an alcoholic — in recovery now — he was also an incredibly handsome dog. He just really was good with women. He was almost like a magnet. So I really related to that one. And, of course, “The Southern Thing.” 

Life is about nostalgia and memories, and it all kind of runs together the older you get.

Also, “Days of Graduation.” You know, almost every high school has a fatal wreck, and there’s always a yearbook dedicated to that person. In my grade, there were three people who were in a wreck and two of them died. I remember going to both of those funerals. 

Those songs just brought back all that time. Life is about nostalgia and memories, and it all kind of runs together the older you get.

How many shows have you attended? What are your favorites and why? 

Yeah, I figured it up, and, man, I've been to a lot more than I thought. I've seen them at least three times in New York, I think I saw them three times at The Fillmore when you lived in San Francisco, and probably at least two times in Pensacola. I think it's about 20. And I’ve seen Cooley and Patterson solo a few times.

And that doesn’t count the time they stood us up at SpringFest. I came home a day early from a wedding so I could go, and I came straight to the festival. I remember it was kind of overcast and I met you and Jimbo there. We were already at the stage when we heard they had car trouble or something and they weren’t coming. That concert was especially disappointing. 

One of the best Drive-By Truckers shows I saw was at Voodoo Fest in 2006. They played a really long set, and they were reminiscing on stage about how they had left New Orleans the day before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, then they did that Randy Newman song, “Louisiana 1927.” I’ve been trying to find a recording of that ever since, but I’ve never been able to find it. That was very touching.

One of the first times I saw them was at this place called the Soul Kitchen in Mobile, and they were pissed off about something. You could tell something had gone wrong. They sang and they did a pretty long set, but the best part of that concert was that The Dexateens opened. I remember watching Matt Patton on stage, and also in the crowd, and watching how he reacted to everything. He was the opening act, but he was also a fan. 

Another great show was at the Fillmore in 2010, which was right before Mother's Day. Patterson sang so much of “18 Wheels of Love.” You know it can just go on forever. I had never heard the whole story.   

I was just captivated, because I was actually captive. I had nothing else to do except listen.

And, of course, that show we went to at Gruene Hall in Texas, when I got to meet them. They were all very polite and lovely. You told me not to be a fan girl, so I played it cool. I said “y'all are like the boys I used to date.” And Cooley said, “Used to?” That gave me a boost, that’s for sure. I've met Cooley a couple of times, actually. I talked to him briefly in an airport. He was on my plane, and his guitar was riding in the rack right across from me. He was coming out of the bus once in Pensacola, and I approached him and I got a picture with him. 

Any song you’ve never heard performed and still hope you do?

“The Deeper In” —  I've never heard that. And, of course, the Jason Isbell songs that they don’t sing, I would love to hear those again, but I’m sure we won’t. I think it's great that they have so much mutual admiration. You know, it's got to be like a family; you can't get along with everybody. 

Do you remember that Cooley concert in Austin? We didn't know if it was starting, and we walk in and he's already playing. That was the first night I heard him sing “Sounds Better in the Song.” I'd love to hear that in concert again.

What underappreciated DBT song do you like?

Two songs on English Oceans I love are “First Air of Autumn” and “Natural Light.” They speak to me as an older woman. Cooley talks a lot about the aging process — “I’d think you were someone I used to know.” And “First Air of Autumn” reminds me of what high school was like. Both of those, I think, are underappreciated.

One of the questions I usually ask is a band you wish you’d seen live but didn’t, but I also want to ask you about bands or artists that you feel grateful to have seen live.

When I was at Ole Miss, we would get those free concerts because we were students; we’d get all dressed up, people wore coats and ties. I got to see Dionne Warwick and Ray Charles; they were both amazing. 

One of the most amazing live performances I’ve ever seen was the poet James Dickey, who wrote Deliverance. He was a poet before he was a novelist. He’s from the South, and he told his childhood stories and read the poetry so beautifully. He was so dramatic and so wonderful. And it was free.

I know my least favorite dive bar; it’s that one in Santa Fe we went to that didn’t have any scotch.

One of the first big concerts I went to was Steppenwolf at LSU. But they got mad about something, the amps weren't working, they were complaining about the producer. So the band comes out, kicks over the amps, and never does the concert. It was very rock and roll.

And are there any bands that you wish you'd seen live, but didn’t?

The Beatles, of course. I guess I could still see the Stones, but it’s not the same. 

I know you have several favorite pieces of DBT merchandise or memorabilia.

I do. I have a t-shirt that I've worn to several concerts, and I will be wearing at Homecoming, and it’s so me. To me, it's not just about having merch, it's about having the merch that is you. I have some caricatures of Patterson and Cooley that a friend of mine drew. I have a book that you gave me that captures a lot of our moments together at Drive-By Truckers concerts, and it's one of my most prized possessions. I used to have a hat, but I gave mine to you. [Editor's note: my mom grudgingly offered me her hat when I complained that mine was too worn out. She might still be a little bitter about it.]

Thank you. They need to bring those hats back. 

I have one or two Fillmore posters that are very cool. One is May 8, 2010; that must have been the Mother's Day show.

Are there any movies, books, or records you've recently consumed that you think other DBT fans would enjoy? 

As a Southerner, I think there are two important books that people should read if they want to realize how things were and how things are: The Barn by Wright Thompson and Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. 

I'm currently obsessed with Anne Patchett. I'm reading all her stuff. She's from Nashville and actually has a bookstore there. I recently read This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage, and her essays are just amazing. She was quite a fan of Eudora Welty, and when Eudora Welty died, she never met her, but she went to her funeral and met Eudora's niece. I think her name was Mary Alice; she was at Ole Miss when I was there. 

This week (Feb. 5) was the anniversary of the conviction of Medgar Evers’ murderer. When Eudora Welty heard that he had been shot, she didn’t know anything about it, but she wrote a short story, and it’s like from the inside of the killer’s brain. It’s called Where Is the Voice Coming From? She wrote it in one sitting the night Evers was shot. She’s incredible at writing Southern dialect. 

One of the best movies I’ve watched lately is a documentary called Secret Mall Apartment. I loved that!

Do you have a favorite dive bar?

I know my least favorite dive bar; it’s that one in Santa Fe we went to that didn’t have any scotch. I love the Reel ‘Em Inn in Portland. Fried chicken and cocktails, what could be better?