Southern Rock Opera
by Drive-By Truckers
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Drive-By Truckers bestography
Southern Rock Opera is ranked 3rd best out of 23 albums by Drive-By Truckers on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Drive-By Truckers is The Dirty South which is ranked number 2086 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 800.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Southern Rock Opera on YouTube
Southern Rock Opera track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 78 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Southern Rock Opera rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Concept albums | 3/35 | - |
| 2026 |  Helios | Top 100 Music Albums of 2001 | 92/100 | 0 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Top 100 greatest music albums (alternative list) | 94/100 | - |
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Top 94 Music Albums of 2001 | 66/94 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Purplepash | Top 68 Music Albums of 2001 | 2/68 | 5 |
| 2026 |  zags7000 | Top 100 Music Albums of 2001 | 15/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | Top 99 Music Albums of 2001 | 1/99 | 5 |
| 2026 |  covecove | Top 100 Music Albums of 2001 | 27/100 | 4 |
| 2026 | Johnnyo | 1 album per artist - greatest albums of all time | 93/100 | - |
| 2026 |  Romanelli | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s | 66/100 | 7 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 135 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 489 | |||
Southern Rock Opera collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 60 members
Southern Rock Opera ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 134 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 08/10/2026 10:10 | Tamthebam | 23,216 | 69/100 |
| ! | 06/23/2026 05:10 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,585 | 70/100 |
| ! | 03/13/2026 19:02 | tmurf | 52 | 77/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.1/100, a mean average of 76.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.4/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.3.
Southern Rock Opera favourites
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Forum mentions
baystateoftheart 05/10/2026 04:33 in You must listen to the album below you: canon edition Romanelli 01/31/2026 01:41 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
dihansse 12/01/2025 21:06 in My discoveries per yearSouthern Rock Opera comments
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Brad1770 07/23/2022 02:51 | #287745
A rock opera by name but in reality a Patterson Hood love letter to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ronnie Van Zant and Neil Young with lyrical references to the afore mentioned artists too many to list. This album supposedly tells the tale of a young musician growing up in the south (Side 1) who hits it big before tragedy strikes in the form of a plane crash on its way to Baton Rouge. If this all sounds awfully familiar with art imitating life it should
Getting a grip on the entire 20 tracks and 93mins can be a slog as the quality dips in the middle 3rd (Bar AC/DC love letter “Let There Be Rock”), however I can entirely recommend the 6 tracks bookending the album in
Track 1: “Days Of Graduation” with its LS “Free Bird Reference”
Track 2: “Ronnie (Van Zant) and Neil (Young)”
Track 17: “Life In The Factory” with its LS history lesson
Track 18: “Shut Up And Get On The Plane”
Track 19: “Greenville To Baton Rouge”
Track 20: “ Angels And Fuselage” - closing with a “Free Bird” inspired track first mentioned in track 1 “Days Of Graduation” thus completing the circle
Jboy56 02/15/2022 13:24 | #281347
Long but rewarding Opera for rock fans.
This is a great record and it really captures the feel of the South. You can't help but feel engulfed by the culture surrounding the music and you find yourself feeling nostalgic by the end. At over 90 minutes it can feel like a bit of a beast to tackle but all of the tracks have their moments even if a few cuts are a little slow and feel like filler. I am a huge fan of the vocal performance on this record and that along with the guitar is a major consistent throughout. The solos of the guitar on some tracks are immense and it is very easy to be craving more by the time the album closes. Overall, a great album that deserves to be talked about more than it is.
Brad1770 12/17/2017 10:16 | #203377
Southern Rock goodness, grab a beer and check this out
Honestly surprised this isn't ranked higher. Loved this one from the very first listen.
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