Southern rockers Drive-By Truckers are forging an unusual path in the music business: They’re writing explicitly political songs at a time when most rock bands aren’t.

On their latest album, “The Unraveling,” which comes out Friday, the Athens, Ga., band tackles gun violence, immigration and other hot-button issues. It continues the band’s shift toward more-direct social commentary, which intensified on their prior album, 2016’s “American Band.” Since breaking through in 2001 with “Southern Rock Opera,” which confronts the South’s racial history, the Truckers have earned accolades as one of rock’s most literate voices, combining distorted guitar riffs with novelistic stories.

Band co-leaders Patterson Hood, 55, and Mike Cooley, 53, who each contribute songs to the group’s albums, spoke with the Journal about their approach to songwriting and how their experiences as parents shape their music. An edited transcript:

Drive-By Truckers is one of the few rock bands making overtly political music. Why is that?