See Drive-By Truckers’ Guerrilla Style Video for ‘The KKK Took My Baby Away’

The Drive-By Truckers have released a goofy, homespun video for their cover of the Ramones’ “The KKK Took My Baby Away,” which is included on the band’s most recent album, The New OK.

Recorded during the Truckers’ 2018 sessions at Memphis’ Sun Studios, “The KKK Took My Baby Away” features bassist Matt Patton singing lead vocals for the first time in the band’s discography.

“[Producer] David Barbe said, ‘You know, you’re all set up, why don’t you just do one take of ‘KKK,” because we’d been covering it at our shows,” Hood told IndieLand earlier this year of the sessions that yielded the raucous cover. “He was like, ‘Just record it, you’ll be glad you got it.’ Those were his words. It was literally one take just live in the room. Having that to end [The New OK] ties the last three records together, and the shows we’e been playing. Because as dark as our records are, I’d like to think our shows have a celebratory aspect to them.”

The video documents the bassist singing the 1981 Ramones classic in various locations, including a phone booth and a recording studio. “Making the video was the kind of fun we used to have with it when I was young,” said Patton. “It felt good to get out and raise a little mischief and not overthink it. Plus, my kid really loves it.”