Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Casey Phillips spoke with Shonna Tucker, bassist for the band, Drive-By Truckers, about being the only girl in a southern rock band, writing inspirations, dealing with the loss of guitarist/songwriter Jason Isbell and whether there’s still a market for concept albums.

CP: From your perspective, what’s it like being the only girl on the lineup? That must make for an interesting dynamic.

ST: (laughs) Yeah it does. It’s all about balance. I’ve always said that there’s no way... I could ever go out on the road with a bunch of girls. That would drive me crazier. I grew up with mostly guy friends because I’ve been playing since I was eight years old. There weren’t a lot of girls where I was growing up in a small town that did that. I played baseball with the boys. I’ve always had more guy friends than girls, so I know how to deal with the dudes. It’s a balance. That’s why it works. Everyone plays their role and makes it all work.

CP: Many of your songs are very story oriented. Where do those stories come from? How much of what you’re singing about is based on real experience and how much is fictionalized?

ST: I would say hardly any are pure fiction. A lot of them have a lot of fiction in them, but most of them come from real people we know or have met on the road and heard their stories and their deal and their real life situation. That gives us more inspiration than anything else. That goes for all three of us really.

CP: Is there any one story you can think of that impacted you more strongly than the others?

ST: I know Patterson’s got two new songs on the record “The Home Front” and “That Man I Shot,” both of which are very special. We got to know the families on both sides of those stories. “The Home Front,” especially, I think was inspired from a family that came to us after losing their brother. His wife was there and they had a kid and all that stuff. It’s basically a true story with a little bit of fiction mixed in. That was a really intense time for us when we met them. To think that we inspired them, we were so humbled because they were grieving over their loved one who they lost fighting for our country. They came to us and were inspired by us, which is really surreal and intense.

CP: With 12 years of performance, do the Truckers still have fun on stage or has playing become more of a job than a passion?

ST: No, it’s more fun than it’s ever been. Last year, we went through a pretty major transition period with Jason (Isbell) leaving. We had a lot of time off, made two different records — one with Bettye Lavette, the other with us — and John Neff came in the band. There were a lot of different changes going on, and that was extremely necessary because, before that happened, it was becoming a grind with a negative vibe going around. Everyone was just exhausted and needed to go home. Changes needed to be made, so we did it. Now, we’re back, everyone’s happy in every direction. It’s going great.

CP: Is the new group dynamic better than the old, the same or just different?

ST: It’s different, but I think it’s better because everyone is going in the same direction right now. We’ve all got the same things in mind, and we’re all doing it for the same reasons, and maybe that wasn’t the case before. Everyone’s mood helps tremendously with that.

CP: Do you think the Truckers could still release another “Southern Rock Opera?” Is there still an audience, in the day of Internet-only singles and EPs, to release a massive concept album like that?

ST: Maybe not in a particular direction of the Southern Rock Opera thing, but definitely concept albums. I love concept records. Who’s to say, with these brains of ours, what’s going to happen? I don’t see why not. It’s crazy. Whenever we tour Europe, it always reminds us how much people love that record. They always bring it up. I’m not saying we’ve forgotten about it, but it’s been a while, and we’ve had a couple of albums out since then. It’s still amazing to me that they pulled it off. It’s such a crazy idea, and to follow through and pull it off is amazing. It’s beautiful. Everybody has ideas, I guess you just have to figure out how to make it happen.