Editing Southern Rock Opera (section)

==Origin and making of the album==
The idea for ''Southern Rock Opera'' pre-dates the band's formation in 1996. ''Southern Rock Opera'' began in a long discussion between Drive-By Truckers' [[frontman]] [[Patterson Hood]] and former Truckers [[bass guitar|bassist]] and [[record producer|producer]] Earl Hicks, during a road trip. The pair discussed writing a semi-[[autobiography|autobiographical]] [[screenplay]] about growing up in the [[Southern United States|South]] and about the plane crash that almost ended the career of the rock band [[Lynyrd Skynyrd]], taking singer [[Ronnie Van Zant]], guitarist [[Steve Gaines]], and Gaines' back-up-singer sister [[Cassie Gaines]].

Soon after this discussion, Hood formed Drive-By Truckers. The Truckers recorded two [[studio album]]s and one [[live album]] during the four years between their formation and the actual recording of ''Southern Rock Opera''. During these years, Drive-By's principal songwriters Hood, [[Mike Cooley (American musician)|Mike Cooley]], and Rob Malone continued to contribute songs to "The Rock Opera", as they had come to call it.

After the release of their live album ''[[Alabama Ass Whuppin']]'', Drive-By Truckers began recording what they hoped would be their [[Masterpiece|magnum opus]]: ''Southern Rock Opera''. According to Patterson Hood, "(the album) was recorded in Birmingham, upstairs in a uniform shop during an early September heat wave, with no air-conditioning. We had to turn the fans off when we were recording, and we worked from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. So ''Southern Rock Opera'' was fun to write, but we had a miserable time making it."{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}

After the album was finished, however, the troubles continued for The Truckers when they ran out of funding for the immense project. To resolve the problem, and to avoid "any fine print crap", as Hood put it, the band took a non-traditional approach. The Truckers made a [[prospectus (finance)|prospectus]] and solicited investors, with a promise of 15% interest, to pay for the manufacturing and distribution of ''Southern Rock Opera''. The approach worked. Through their fan-based online news group and by sheer word of mouth, The Truckers were able to raise $23,000. This allowed them to print about 5,000 copies of the album, and buy a "new" used van for touring. 

''Southern Rock Opera'' was finally released on September 12, 2001 on [[Soul Dump Records]].