Rock 'n' roll is returning to Crowbar, 420 E. College Ave., Tuesday night thanks to the countrified roots rock of Alabama's own Drive-By Truckers. Crowbar-goers will be privy to one of the best displays of rock since another infamous Alabama band.

But for Drive-By Truckers, being compared to Lynyrd Skynyrd is simply old hat. Since releasing its fourth and critically-acclaimed concept album Southern Rock Opera in 2001, which told the story of a fictional band very similar to Skynyrd, Drive-By Truckers have been both praised for its insight into southern stereotypes and written off as just another right wing rebel-flag-toting bunch of rednecks.

"I think the fact they did the Lynyrd Skynyrd thing signifies an allegiance to them," said Ken Kubala, manager of City Lights Records, 316 E. College Ave. "But there's a sense of humor in it."

Although Patterson Hood, front man for Drive-By Truckers, injected a sense of humor into the album by chronicling the many legends surrounding Skynyrd, he also expressed his frustration.

"People's viewpoints about them [Lynyrd Skynyrd] became their viewpoints about the South," Hood said.

But according to Hood, the association of rednecks with the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd is actually an unfortunate accident.

"The band's political viewpoints were more in line with the hippies," Hood said. "They weren't a right wing band. They had songs about gun control. People just took the wrong thing from it."

As he got older, Hood said he rediscovered Skynyrd and became startled by the complexity of its songwriting and arranging of pre-planned guitar solos.

"In examining that, I saw the parallels in people taking the worst aspects of the South and associating them with the band," Hood said.

"There's no denying the things that happened in Birmingham, Ala. But there are also really good people from those times that still carry the weight of misconception."

Unlike Skynyrd, however, Drive-By Truckers actually have a bigger following in northern cities like Seattle and Chicago, than in its homeland of the South. And this is clear proof that the Truckers aren't a tribute band.

"There's a huge number of hardcore Skynyrd fans but they aren't hanging out at the clubs we played," Hood said. "Their hardcore followings aren't aware of what we've been doing."

The sort of clubs the Truckers play are inhabited by liberal-minded music nerds who Hood said "grew up in the backlash of redneck right wing rebels" and are likely to think the Truckers are an "unabashed tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd."

But enough people caught on to the idea behind Southern Rock Opera, including a group of investors who loaned the band money to release the album.

"Everyone got paid back and their stockbrokers joked that they lost more money in the stock market," Hood said.

Once the album started gaining attention, it was picked up by roots rock label Lost Highway and reissued in 2002.

But sales of the album had plateaued and just as the Truckers completed its follow-up album, the band was released.

New West Records signed the band and released Decoration Day in June to another wave of critical approbation. Pitchforkmedia.com said the album "further confirms the Drive-By Truckers' status as the most poetic and insightful Southern rockers in existence today."

The Truckers will be preceded by another rock band from Alabama, with the misleading name Southern Bitch.

"Their name makes them sound like Nashville Pussy, but they couldn't be further from that," Hood said. "They're actually a husband-and-wife band."

Local act Darcie Miner Band will start the show at 9:30 p.m. much to an excited Hood, who is anxious to be back in State College. The last time the Truckers played here was at Movin' On 2002.

"I remember thinking, 'Man, I love this town,' " Hood said. "There were lots of girls playing in the mud."