Drive-By Truckers' 2001 double album *Southern Rock Opera* used the story of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the 1977 plane crash that killed several band members, as a lens through which to explore the wider history, contradictions and mythology of the American South. The Alabama-and-Georgia-rooted band, often described as historians as much as musicians, framed their own upbringing and complicated relationship with Southern identity through a parallel telling of Skynyrd's rise and tragic end, making the record a landmark in how Southern rock's legacy has been examined and reinterpreted.

The album, released in late September 2001, was conceived years earlier during cross-country road trips between frontman Patterson Hood and bassist Earl Hicks, before the band had even formed, and was developed further as the group released two studio albums and a live record, 1999's *Alabama Ass Whuppin'*, while touring extensively. Its opening track, 'Days of Graduation', sets a story of two young deaths against a Lynyrd Skynyrd soundtrack, reflecting how the band's own coming-of-age in the South was shaped by that music, including memories of tickets bought for a 1977 Skynyrd show that never went ahead because of the crash near Gillsburg, Mississippi.