By the time you read this, the Drive-By Trucker Homecoming Weekend & Nuçi’s Space Benefit shows will have sold out, making fewer by three your opportunities to catch a band spending most of 2012 on a well deserved respite from the road.  There are families to raise, batteries to recharge and other songs to sing. 

A few days into the new year, Flagpole finds itself at DBT headquarters where drummer Brad Morgan is working on his latest side project: building quality, custom road-cases for bands to transport gear.  A decade ago, did Morgan ever imagine the band would have a bona fide HQ, a space where gear and memorabilia and stage props and Dr. Pepper could be so easily stored and archived? 

“I thought it was all post-office boxes,” he admits. 

Naturally, the recent loss of bassist Shonna Tucker is something fans of the band are curious about.  As the other half of the rhythm section, Morgan seems confident that the transition will be smooth.

“With Patterson and Cooley, there’s always been a lot of bass players. Even in Adam’s House Cat, they always had trouble keeping a bass player,” he says with a laugh before chronicling the band's bassist history, from Adam Howell to Rob Malone to Earl Hicks, and the long run with Tucker.  “I’m always used to change, you know… I love them all.  They’ve all taught be something.”

As for Tucker's successor, will there be a permanent replacement?  Will they showcase special guests as needed?  Can we expect [legendary bassist and DBT guitarist Patterson Hood's father] David Hood to come out of retirement? 

“I’m sure all that will probably happen...” Morgan speculates, before adding, “David Hood is not retired; he’s a very busy fellow… Whoever’s available—David Barbe’s very busy with school, so we can’t really take him away from that, but we’ve got a couple of other options.” 

Stay tuned, Trucker Nation.