Southern-rock outfit Drive-By Truckers has come a long way. Their history reads like a narrative in one of their songs, complete with long hours on the road, longer hours spent in bars, and often little recognition. Their latest album, “Brighter Than Creations Dark,” might finally earn them some of the widespread acclaim that they have deserved for over a decade. Even though the disc represents a kind of return to the band’s roots, there is much for new fans to love and old fans to embrace. Released on both CD and vinyl, “Brighter than Creations Dark” is the southern-fried saga of a band well acquainted with hard work and a blue-collar attitude towards rock music.

Drive-By Truckers form their ranks from Georgia and Northern Alabama. Formed by Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood, the band has seen many members come and go, but has always stayed true to a grass-roots rock sound. The band now consists of Shonna Tucker on bass, Brad Morgan on drums and John Neff along with Cooley and Patterson all on guitar. This three-guitar assault helps give the Truckers their distinctive sound, although when the situation calls for it, the musicians are capable of showing incredible restraint, not something usually associated with three-guitar bands. Also divided into three are singing duties, with Cooley, Hood and Tucker all taking turns with the main vocal from track to track, and providing often haunting harmonies. Truckers fans will recognize each singer immediately, as they all bring different qualities to a song, and play off of each other brilliantly.

This album leans more to the country side of country-rock, and is more of a stripped-down approach than recent Truckers albums have offered. There’s the banjo and pedal-steel slide “Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife,” and “I’m Sorry Huston,” showcasing a classic country sound with a rock edge. Songs like “3 Dimes Down” and “Self-Destructive Zones,” serve as effective counterpoints, kicking the distortion and upping the tempo. Tracks like “The Opening Act” and “Checkout Time in Vegas” show that the band can use an incredibly light touch at times, and allow the vocals to take over.

One of the best aspects of this album is the lyrics and clever wordplay that Truckers fans have come to expect. These songs address lower-middle class issues, and the Southern-Gothic grotesques that have populated Truckers’ songs for years. Meth addicts, drunks, deadbeat dads and killers all get their stories told. There are some great drinking songs on here, or some great songs to quit drinking to, depending on how you look at it. Either way, the skillful song-writing makes sure that every track gains a response of one kind or another from the listener.

Musically, no real major ground is being broken here. This is just solid roots-rock the whole way through, and even though a few songs are less than memorable, none of them fall flat. There are no face-melting solos and the rhythm section isn’t doing anything particularly amazing, but flashy playing would only detract from the harmony and simple philosophy of the band: which is to deliever reliable rock every time. Even if country is not your thing (and for this reviewer it is not), there is enough guitar-power to keep you interested, and country fans will enjoy the edge that the Truckers bring to a tired genre. Unlike so many of the people in their songs, Drive-by Truckers has made it out of the dive bars for good.