Photograph by Ben Rollins
For Drivin N Cryin, longevity has always been rooted in honesty and a deep trust in instinct and songcraft. These values have carried the Atlanta group from sweat-soaked barroom rock to front-porch confessionals since the 1980s.
The group’s latest album, Crushing Flowers, features collaborations with the late singer-songwriter Todd Snider and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, leaning into the simple, restorative pleasure of big-hearted songs that feel lived-in and joyful. The group designed Crushing Flowers to function as a defining statement for Atlanta, distilling Drivin N Cryin’s peak performance into 10 songs.
“I wanted to make a rock ‘n’ roll record,” says the group’s singer, guitar player, and songwriter Kevn Kinney. “I wanted one more album for Atlanta—for Drivin N Cryin fans.”
Kinney traced a long arc through outsider Southern punk, roots rock, and acoustic storytelling before forming the band in 1985. The group’s 1991 album Fly Me Courageous (Island Records) was certified gold, with its titular single and “Build a Fire” receiving heavy rotation on MTV, as well as radio play across the country. Over the decades, the group carried on, signing with various labels before embracing independence and releasing music via Drivin N Cryin Records.
Crushing Flowers (released April 3) is a career bookend that mirrors the band’s 1986 debut, Scarred but Smarter. That first album captured the sound of a young band bursting with energy and soul. On Crushing Flowers, “Mirror Mirror,” “Looks Like We’re Back Again,” and “Death of Me Yet” are written to be played loud in a room full of people. The band’s youthful outbursts are replaced here by a confidence that can be gained only from a lifetime of experiences.
“Keep the Change” was written in the era of Scarred but Smarter but never released—until now. Here, it finds new life amid songs that came together over the past few years, as Kinney spent mornings sitting at his kitchen table playing an acoustic guitar while his dog Gertie lay by his feet, and his wife, Anna, moved about their Atlanta home. “I started strumming, creating melodies,” Kinney says. “I recorded them on my phone. Later, I thought about what they could mean and how I could use them to turn a phrase.”
Photograph by Ben Rollins
Photograph by Rick Diamond/Getty Images
Kinney still writes songs that speak plainly, even when grappling with the complexities of love, longing, and disappointment. “Being honest is the easiest thing for me,” he says. “When you’re a kid, you try to write songs like Bruce Springsteen—character-driven songs, like ‘Johnny did this’ or ‘Johnny did that.’ But that doesn’t work for me.”
There’s a bold quality to the straightforward manner in which the songs unfold. And what could be a more apropos ode to Atlanta traffic woes than a song titled “Why Don’t You Go Around?”
For Crushing Flowers, drummer Dave Johnson and bass player and fellow Drivin N Cryin cofounder Tim Nielsen rounded out the three-piece band. Recording the album went quickly. Kinney arranged the songs, then played them for the others and gave them enough time to learn each number. “These guys are good enough that I can play them the song once, and they’ll say, ‘Got it!’” Kinney says. “We didn’t under-rehearse and we didn’t overplay them. We hit just the right spot.”
R.E.M.’s Buck plays guitar on “Mirror Mirror” and the album’s title track. Both songs were recorded at Chase Park Transduction in Athens. “The songs feel like a new chapter for the band,” Buck says. “They’re more melodic and more heartfelt, but they’re still rockin’. Drivin N Cryin has been one of my favorite bands since I first saw them over 40 years ago. It’s great to see them doing their best work all these years later, and it’s great to be a part of it.”
Photograph by Island Records/Michael Lavine
Courtesy of band
One of the album’s most poignant moments finds Nashville’s Snider delivering the final lines in the song “Iggy Monkey.” It’s also the last recording Snider made before dying in November 2025, when a case of walking pneumonia turned into sepsis. He was 59 years old.
Crushing Flowers has an unexpected connection to The Who’s career-defining 1971 LP, Who’s Next. The former was produced by Sadler Vaden at Fatback Studios in East Nashville. When Vaden was a kid, his first concert was seeing Drivin N Cryin open for The Who. Years later, he joined Drivin N Cryin, playing guitar on the 2012 EPs Songs From the Laundromat and Songs About Cars, Space, and the Ramones. He also played guitar and produced on the 2013 EP Songs From the Psychedelic Time Clock.
The songs stand proudly in the present while carrying Drivin N Cryin’s legacy forward. It’s a reminder that rock ‘n’ roll, when made with conviction, is deeply human.
The group will play live in Athens, Savannah, and Dahlonega throughout May and June. For those who are discovering Drivin N Cryin for the first time, Crushing Flowers is an honest introduction to what the band has always done best. For longtime fans, it’s a record made just for them.
This article appears in our May 2026 issue.
