Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	86/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Austin Chronicle
Now	4/5
Q
Rolling Stone
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
The Village Voice	A−

Southern Rock Opera is the third studio album by the alt country band Drive-By Truckers, released in 2001. A double album covering an ambitious range of subject matter from the politics of race to 1970s stadium rock, Southern Rock Opera either imagines, or filters, every topic through the context of legendary Southern band, Lynyrd Skynyrd. The record was originally self-released on Soul Dump Records. The album was re-released on July 16, 2002 by Lost Highway Records. The album was financed by issuing promissory notes in exchange for loans from fans, family and friends of the band.

The album's artwork was done by Richmond, Virginia artist Wes Freed.

The idea for Southern Rock Opera pre-dates the band's formation in 1996. Southern Rock Opera began in a long discussion between, Drive-By Truckers' frontman, Patterson Hood, and former Truckers' bassist and producer, Earl Hicks, during a road trip. The pair discussed writing a semi-autobiographical screenplay about growing up in the South and about the plane crash that almost ended the career of the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, taking singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and Gaines' back-up singer sister, Cassie Gaines, to their graves.

Soon after this discussion, Patterson Hood formed Drive-By Truckers. The Truckers recorded two studio albums and one live album during the four years between their formation and the actual recording of Southern Rock Opera. During these years, Drive-By's principal songwriters Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley, and Rob Malone continued to contribute songs to "The Rock Opera", as they'd come to calling it.

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