After the release of their live album "Alabama Ass Whuppin"', Drive-By Truckers began recording what they hoped would be their 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."