― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 15 January 2005 19:27 (nineteen years ago) link
― Josh Love (screamapillar), Saturday, 15 January 2005 19:47 (nineteen years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Sunday, 16 January 2005 19:57 (nineteen years ago) link
― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Monday, 17 January 2005 00:59 (nineteen years ago) link
― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Monday, 17 January 2005 21:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― danh (danh), Monday, 17 January 2005 21:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― Chris O., Monday, 17 January 2005 22:19 (nineteen years ago) link
My second favorite band of all time, though, so all is forgiven, always.
― Roger Fidelity (Roger Fidelity), Monday, 17 January 2005 23:04 (nineteen years ago) link
Saw dude play twice recently - first at an instore, solo save for a girl on fiddle. Really amazing performance. Didn't overstay his welcome, totally commanding and great throughout.
The show later that evening though, with his new band, was another story altogether.
While Isbell again was in top form, his band just isn't anywhere near as good as DBT (an inevitable comparison - sorry Jason) and isn't doing his songs any particular favors.
Worst of all was the Conor Oberst-doppleganger on lead guitar - proficient enough on lead but completely devoid of any personality or balls on his instrument whatsoever.
Maybe Jason was playing to the admittedly large contingent of visor-sporting, plastic cup hoisting frat troglodytes in the audience, but before I left halfway through, the band had already done two covers - "Do It Again" and "Psycho Killer," the latter of which featured said guitarist with the Wynona Ryder haircut on lead vocals. If I want to see a preening indie rocker bellow Talking Heads covers while winking at girls in the audience between verses, I'll go to karaoke night in Williamsburg. I was almost waiting for the inevitable "Blister In The Sun" riff, the appearance of which would have no doubt inspired a Roman orgy among the high-fiving frat brothers-in-arms squeezed in up front.
When Jason played any of his DBT songs, the lack of muscle behind him made it almost hard to watch.
For what it's worth, though, the audience were captivated throughout. Curse Bonnaroo and all it represents!
Sorry this reads like a shitty newspaper review, I'm hungover.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Thursday, 6 September 2007 11:20 (sixteen years ago) link
Well, if I saw that last set I'd feel hungover too. What a shame, but makes me even more thankful for the studio performances, mostly backed by other Truckers (including John Neff on steel guitar, now taking Jason's place in DBT, apparently)and Spooner Oldham, and I think David Hood's on there too. There's also a really good track on his myspace, "When The Well Runs Dry," credited to the Truckers, damn sure should have been on somebody's album, maybe that lack is a symptom of something (like the title). He's mentioned Eudora Welty's short stories in interviews, and his songs make me think of Welty times Zevon (Z collab'd with Paul Muldoon etc, so maybe could've happened, if she were a guy and younger) Not Z's "Carmelita" tearjerking but sardonic lyricism, some kind of compassion on Jason's part, at least implied by careful consideration of his characters, however crispy they be. It's really better than what he did with the Truckers. anyway, here's my review: http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0728,allred,77190,22.html
― dow, Thursday, 6 September 2007 19:25 (sixteen years ago) link
Southeastern his best solo album?
― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 21 June 2013 13:06 (ten years ago) link
Easily, but it's also his most start to finish consistent. Then again, to me the lyrics are the selling point. The music is largely Son Volt snoozy on the first couple listens, with an over-reliance on 3/4.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 21 June 2013 13:11 (ten years ago) link
Yes. I can't listen to the whole thing straight through – yet.
― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 21 June 2013 13:13 (ten years ago) link
I keep meaning to listen to this. That NY Times profile has me interested, plus folks who saw him talk and play at EMP in New Orleans (I was in the other room checking out a zydeco and Cajun talk with archival photos)
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/magazine/jason-isbell-unloaded.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
― curmudgeon, Friday, 21 June 2013 14:23 (ten years ago) link
I want to like the album a lot more than I actually do ; (
― More Than a Century With the Polaris Emblem (calstars), Friday, 21 June 2013 15:04 (ten years ago) link
I really like it. It's definitely a, idk, heavy(?) listen, it's not really quite light enough to put on repeat and breeze through a few times...but all the songs really sit with you. Which is a really nice change.
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 21 June 2013 15:15 (ten years ago) link
He seems a bit young for the "all of these songs are about alcoholism" album, doesn't he?
― kaleb h. (Everything You Like Sucks), Friday, 21 June 2013 15:48 (ten years ago) link
not too young for a (reportedly) violent alcoholic
― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 21 June 2013 15:56 (ten years ago) link
He's a major talent, and this is probably his best record. It's also pretty down and not all that fun. Best news is there are no more Stax-style ballads like Cigarettes and Wine.
― kornrulez6969, Friday, 21 June 2013 16:53 (ten years ago) link
i liked that >:(
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 21 June 2013 19:09 (ten years ago) link
"Live Oak" and "Elephant" needed to be Truckerized.
― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 22 June 2013 12:26 (ten years ago) link
agreed
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 22 June 2013 16:10 (ten years ago) link
omg SO happy he's over that 'soul singer' bullshit
Haven't heard this yet, wanna make time to really listen. Color me cautiously optimistic. I recall saying to my then-wife when we saw DBT on the DD tour, "If that kid ever goes solo, he's gonna blow the fuck up." I'd like to be vindicated, at last, because up until now, his was a case of seriously wasted talent IMO (stray songs on various solo albums notwithstanding).
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Saturday, 22 June 2013 19:37 (ten years ago) link
This is good if staid in that singer-songwriterly way.
― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 22 June 2013 19:42 (ten years ago) link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/jason-isbell-as-undislikable-as-it-gets/2014/01/29/606904b6-8908-11e3-916e-e01534b1e132_story.html
But as earnest as he sounded Tuesday, Isbell’s performance still registered somewhere between excellent and just fine. He was undislikable.
The undislikables occupy a unique space in pop music. Their songs are filled with personality and emotion, but never too much. They experiment, but not without safety goggles. They put a premium on craftsmanship and confidence, often stamping out any whiffs of danger or weirdness. And their music seems unimpeachable, leaving you with an in-the-middle feeling that makes you wonder whether these people have achieved a state of enlightenment or have been trapped in purgatory.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 30 January 2014 16:57 (ten years ago) link
Commenters on that review are outraged by Chris Richard's stance. I understand what he means.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 30 January 2014 20:55 (ten years ago) link
p sure the word is 'nice'
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 30 January 2014 21:30 (ten years ago) link
Is he really lopping together all singer songwriters? Honestly, guys with guitars who bare their souls are so unhip they might as well be weirdo outliers. If Steve Earle and John prine are his play it safe peeps, isbell should be pretty cool with this.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 30 January 2014 21:39 (ten years ago) link
He calls the Roots undislikeable as well. I think he means NPR-friendly
― curmudgeon, Friday, 31 January 2014 04:23 (ten years ago) link
"Elephant" was probably my favorite song of last year, and "Relatively Easy" wasn't far behind. If he ever writes a whole album that good...
― Simon H., Friday, 31 January 2014 04:42 (ten years ago) link
He is an obvious talent. The problem is, anybody's songs are going to sound better when they're played by DBT.
― kornrulez6969, Friday, 31 January 2014 04:49 (ten years ago) link
Which is doubly frustrating because the actual DBT songwriters have been churning out less and less interesting material over the last few albums (imo).
― Simon H., Friday, 31 January 2014 04:57 (ten years ago) link
Southeastern goes way beyond nice. And it's not just about the lyrics. From my Nashville Scene ballot, "In The Shadows of the Warm Red Comments" http://thefreelancementalists.blogspot.com/2014/01/14th-annual-etc-in-shadows-of-warm-red.html Jason Isbell's Here We Rest often relied on the words, and some live versions were even shakier, but on Southeastern he's got his tuneful tightness back (playing a lot of the mostly acoustic instruments himself; the 400 Unit plug in on cue and on point, but don't get co-billing). Time to put the spotlight and the pressure back on himself--the voice was never a problem, which was a problem. No matter how wasted and/or woolgathering he got, could always release a few more of those high lonesome sweet bluesy Lowell George notes, and tell himself everything was still okay and not okay, in that alone-together way.The words are better too, deep and horizontally active enough, back and forth in time and space--the richest lode is the opener, "Cover Me Up", with some kind of imaginative but not imaginary although certainly motorvatingly metaphorical invalid, with strong lungs, calling for "medical assistance, or a magnolia breeze", while he and significant other are riding a flood in a cold house "I ain't chopping no wood...hang up your wet dress" and get that cover workin'. This is also very tender-sounding, since the lonesome monster is now ready to face whatever reality may and will surely bring--whole album's known knowns wed to known unknowns: very family values, very commuting-community-minded, very country in its way (so this only looks like a Paste list, see?)
― dow, Friday, 31 January 2014 14:36 (ten years ago) link
Ironically, it's been more and more "interesting," imo - in terms of ideas and surprising detours - just less and less strong. They were such a great outlet for Isbell, because he can always be counted on a for a couple of absolutely outstanding tracks per effort, just not quite an entire outstanding album yet. He's young, though. 15 years younger than Hood, I think.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 31 January 2014 15:06 (ten years ago) link
I read xchuckx E. being harsh on Jason's vocals
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 1 February 2014 16:30 (ten years ago) link
― Simon H., Thursday, January 30, 2014 11:57 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
So wrong
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Saturday, 1 February 2014 20:37 (ten years ago) link
DBT's new album is a bore though.
― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 1 February 2014 20:48 (ten years ago) link
"Super 8" is the song that needed the Truckers the worst - songwriting as strong as "Elephant" but such painfully boring country-rock.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Wednesday, 14 May 2014 04:04 (nine years ago) link
i saw the Truckers live last month
- new bass player is distractingly goofy. he's fine as a player but he's like this grinning jackolantern all the time, it's SO weird
- setllist was suuuper uneven, going from blistering rock into pensive cooley so much it was giving me whiplash
- i've seen them four times before this show, and this is the first time i was almost completely bored. they were fine, but fine aint a dbt show
idk
they seem to be focusing on sounding cleaner, singing better etc but their rawness was the appeal for me. i love them but idk who this band is now?
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 14 May 2014 05:04 (nine years ago) link
http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2014/11/the_voice_reportedly_asks_jaso.html
'The Voice' producer reportedly asks Jason Isbell to audition for the NBC show
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 19 November 2014 22:35 (nine years ago) link
He was great last week at this Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute show i went to last week at the Fox Theater (great venue by the way)
http://music.blog.ajc.com/2014/11/13/concert-review-lynyrd-skynyrd-tribute-concert-brings-peter-frampton-gregg-allman-and-more-to-the-fox-theatre/
― Prince Kajuku (Bill Magill), Wednesday, 19 November 2014 22:49 (nine years ago) link
xpost loooooooool that is hilarious and sad
― difficult-difficult lemon-difficult (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 20 November 2014 02:48 (nine years ago) link
Sad for the producer's cred, happy otherwise: he scanned the invite into his twitter feed (so that's the basis of "reportedly," from the hoss's mouth) and considered what his audition material might consist of (I suggested he hold out for Dancing With The Stars). Would love to see Blake Shelton's big ol' half-bright face if he did come out there on The Voice (that's the one Shelton's on, right?)
― dow, Thursday, 20 November 2014 06:15 (nine years ago) link
("lemon-difficult": excellent, especially if related to #DonLemonReporting, but either way.)
― dow, Thursday, 20 November 2014 06:17 (nine years ago) link
http://youtu.be/7mAFiPVs3tM
― difficult-difficult lemon-difficult (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 20 November 2014 06:19 (nine years ago) link
The new record is streaming on NPR right now. It's very good, similar in sound to Southeastern. He'll never rock like he did with DBT but he'll probably end up the more popular act.
― kornrulez6969, Monday, 13 July 2015 16:37 (eight years ago) link
From Rolling Country, my initial impressions:
Jason Isbell, Something More Than Free: doesn't travel with the more sustained undertone of excitement found in Southeastern---recorded sober, apparently!---but "Are you takin' the grown-up dose?" is still the question, or one of 'em, and it's often remarkable what can sprout from dry, quiet starting over, especially when the past gets out of bed and comes cruising through one's present-day/night of carefully worked out details, brushing them just a hair or three from conventional alignment. Or not, in which case it's conspicuous by etc., but always the singer's cue."Children of Children" and "24 Frames" will be the relatively big (npr) radio cuts, if any are, but most tunes as well as words tend to take fetching turns.http://www.npr.org/2015/07/08/420588068/first-listen-jason-isbell-something-more-than-free
― dow, Friday, July 10, 2015 4:38 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Not to say this 'un doesn't *also* sound like it was written and recorded sober---it does, and it also sounds like that's what it's about: dealing with the unfiltered, or differently filtered---but Southeastern seemed like more of an adventure.
― dow, Friday, July 10, 2015 4:42 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post PermalinkMaybe it's just subtle for me---diggin it tho!
― dow, Monday, 13 July 2015 22:51 (eight years ago) link
"Children of Children" is fucking brutal -
I was riding on my mother's hip, she was shorter than the cornAll the years I took from her, just by being born.
Didn't mean to break the cycle[...]
You were riding on your mother's hip she was shorter than the cornAll the years you took from her, just by being born.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Saturday, 18 July 2015 17:43 (eight years ago) link
Is any of his solo stuff better than "outfit?"
― calstars, Saturday, 3 December 2016 00:13 (seven years ago) link
probably not, about half of Southeastern and the 400 Unit album are nearly as good though
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Saturday, 3 December 2016 00:22 (seven years ago) link
His favorite record is disintegration? Wtf
― calstars, Friday, 8 December 2023 23:10 (three months ago) link
I liked his DBT output (favorite: "TVA") but have repeatedly failed to love his albums though he always has some tracks that really show he's a master song-story teller. But thanks to Alpine Static and some other suggestions, the best bits make a great best-of! I pulled from the following:
Live At Twist & Shout: Goddamn Lonely Love, OutfitSirens Of The Ditch: Dress BluesHere We Rest: Alabama PinesSoutheastern: Elephant, Relatively EasySomething More Than Free: 24 Frames, Speed Trap TownThe Nashville Sound: Cumberland Gap, If We Were VampiresReunions: It Gets EasierWeathervanes: Cast Iron Skillet, When We Were Close, White Beretta
Anyone else have suggestions? How about something from the self-titled album?
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 12 December 2023 02:40 (three months ago) link
Self-Titled: Cigarettes & Wine(acoustic bonus version from Deluxe Edition is nice too) also:Here We Rest: CodeineSouthEastern: Super 8Georgia Blue: Sometimes Salvation
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 12 December 2023 02:48 (three months ago) link
Oh a new profile/interview of him in GQ by Kaleb Horton? Go on, then.
https://www.gq.com/story/jason-isbell-just-another-actor-with-a-night-job
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 12 January 2024 18:35 (two months ago) link
my favorite writer & my favorite singer. great piece!
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 12 January 2024 18:52 (two months ago) link
WXPN always plays that "Death Wish" single when I'm driving my kid to school. It's been stuck in my head for months.
― Beyond Goo and Evol (President Keyes), Friday, 12 January 2024 19:18 (two months ago) link
good song
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 12 January 2024 21:25 (two months ago) link
he and shires are splitting
― mookieproof, Thursday, 8 February 2024 15:39 (one month ago) link
Normally couldn't possibly care less about celebrity and musician marriages, but was surprised to feel kinda sad about this one. They both seem like really good people doing good things in the world, hope they both find happiness.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 8 February 2024 15:47 (one month ago) link
Aw.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 8 February 2024 15:50 (one month ago) link
xp totally
― Indexed, Thursday, 8 February 2024 15:51 (one month ago) link
Their last albums hinted at Rumours-esque turmoil.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 8 February 2024 15:51 (one month ago) link
Isbell solo does nothing for me but Drive By Truckers were the most important band in the world to me during the years he was in the group and my first thought upon seeing the news was that I hope he can maintain his sobriety through this bit of turmoil
― Slim is an Alien, Thursday, 8 February 2024 18:29 (one month ago) link
he just posted on his 11th sober anniversary.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 8 February 2024 18:34 (one month ago) link
Nice, that’s good news, I figured that having almost centered his career around his sobriety that he’d be pretty solid in it at this point (plus, it’s been over a decade), but it always seemed like his wife was the final glob of glue holding it all together and that if that ever came undone anything could happen.
― Slim is an Alien, Thursday, 8 February 2024 19:03 (one month ago) link
That sucks. No 40 years together
― H.P, Thursday, 8 February 2024 21:22 (one month ago) link
I sobered upI swore off that stuffForever this time
― Virginia Wolfman (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 8 February 2024 21:30 (one month ago) link
(It's kind of interesting that if you listen to live recordings, that's an instant applause line - when one presumes that 73% of the audience is holding a Bud Lite at that precise moment. I cannot pretend to understand the world.)
― Virginia Wolfman (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 8 February 2024 21:34 (one month ago) link
I'm kind of surprised people are surprised by this. For several years it's seemed like it could boil over at any second (and probably did multiple times).
― ⓓⓡ (Johnny Fever), Friday, 9 February 2024 05:25 (one month ago) link
yeah i’m bummed but not exactly surprised. the vibes have been strange for a while imo.
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 9 February 2024 05:29 (one month ago) link
He gives good interviews and it's fun to see him light up fools on twitter, but I've never gotten the impression he'd be a pleasant person to hang around with or—even worse—be married to.
― ⓓⓡ (Johnny Fever), Friday, 9 February 2024 05:37 (one month ago) link
i dunno that Shires is a walk in the park either tbh
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 9 February 2024 05:45 (one month ago) link
He had abruptly stopped Tweeting in mid-December, but I thought he had maybe moved to another platform. . .
What struck me watching the documentary was that 'this is a songwriter who has a spouse/sometimes bandmate/MFA in Poetry involved at a very granular level in the songwriting process. Much respect for even trying to make that work, but that's going be very difficult to sustain'.
― Jeff Wright, Friday, 9 February 2024 06:13 (one month ago) link
Well, somebody on here pointed out his own lit(eature) studies, at Memphis U., I think--dunno how far he got toward a degree, but he said years ago that his tastes were way ahead of his abilities, or skills, so that kind of self-conscious striving seems to have affected his lyrics sometimes, like in a recent interview he quoted Shires,"I know how you feel about that, because I know you, but it doesn't come across," and he said he was indignant at first, but then he tried again, and wrote something more (intelligible or something)(think it was a song about or involving their daughter, growing up in this fucked world).
Sobriety as a major theme, yeah, reminds me of what I said upthread:
Oh yeah----my comments from last year's Nashville Scene ballot:Jason Isbell, Reunions:Under pressure of atmosphere, memories, incl. of present and future, spooky and urgent----music more varied after "Running With Our Eyes Closed," calmer but still insidious, words finding their way in---"St. Peter's Autograph,", hmmm--but I get some of 'em right away, esp the one about sober life incl. dreams about drinking, a couple nights a week now, like, "I had one glass of wine, woke up feelin' fine,and that's how I knew it was a dream," but some are rougher, like the even realer-seeming dream of calling in sick to treat yourself down town--you deserve it, self, you been real good for so long---"It gets easier, but never easy, " why have I never heard a song about this must-be-fairly-common experience before? So far, Reunions seems like one of his most sustained achievements in quite a while:https://jasonisbell.bandcamp.com/album/reunions― dow, Saturday, October 23, 2021
Under pressure of atmosphere, memories, incl. of present and future, spooky and urgent----music more varied after "Running With Our Eyes Closed," calmer but still insidious, words finding their way in---"St. Peter's Autograph,", hmmm--but I get some of 'em right away, esp the one about sober life incl. dreams about drinking, a couple nights a week now, like, "I had one glass of wine, woke up feelin' fine,and that's how I knew it was a dream," but some are rougher, like the even realer-seeming dream of calling in sick to treat yourself down town--you deserve it, self, you been real good for so long---"It gets easier, but never easy, " why have I never heard a song about this must-be-fairly-common experience before? So far, Reunions seems like one of his most sustained achievements in quite a while:
https://jasonisbell.bandcamp.com/album/reunions
― dow, Saturday, October 23, 2021
re what I said a few days ago about "It gets easier, but never easy," and slipperiness of sober living, just now recalled that this has been a theme emerging in various ways ever since he cleaned up, as I commented on in a paste way upthread:From Rolling Country, my initial impressions:Jason Isbell, Something More Than Free: doesn't travel with the more sustained undertone of excitement found in Southeastern---recorded sober, apparently!---but "Are you takin' the grown-up dose?" is still the question, or one of 'em, and it's often remarkable what can sprout from dry, quiet starting over, especially when the past gets out of bed and comes cruising through one's present-day/night of carefully worked out details, brushing them just a hair or three from conventional alignment. Or not, in which case it's conspicuous by etc., but always the singer's cue."Children of Children" and "24 Frames" will be the relatively big (npr) radio cuts, if any are, but most tunes as well as words tend to take fetching turns.http://www.npr.org/2015/07/08/420588068/first-listen-jason-isbell-something-more-than-free― dow, Friday, July 10, 2015 4:38 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post PermalinkNot to say this 'un doesn't *also* sound like it was written and recorded sober---it does, and it also sounds like that's what it's about: dealing with the unfiltered, or differently filtered---but Southeastern seemed like more of an adventure.― dow, Friday, July 10, 2015 4:42 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post PermalinkMaybe it's just subtle for me---diggin it tho!― dow, Monday, July 13, 2015 5:51 PM (six years ago)
― dow, Friday, July 10, 2015 4:42 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Maybe it's just subtle for me---diggin it tho!
― dow, Monday, July 13, 2015 5:51 PM (six years ago)
― dow, Saturday, 10 February 2024 00:53 (one month ago) link
I wish we'd focus on Amanda Shires too.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 10 February 2024 00:54 (one month ago) link
Art about drugs (including alcohol) is just boring.
― calstars, Saturday, 10 February 2024 00:57 (one month ago) link
With him, it's the aftermath, although life can be seen and heard as aftermath anyway (relatable).xpost Increasingly, she's got the music and the words, but bum sung notes can suddenly drive me up the wall, and the weakness of even correctly sung solo passages have me listening around the voice sometimes---she can be awesome double-tracked though, fitting right in to the rest of her production---if only she were as tough on herself as she reportedly was on him, artistically (meaning her own albums; I haven't heard the one w Bobbie Nelson yet)(Shires did a great repartee duet w Prine, btw).
― dow, Saturday, 10 February 2024 01:08 (one month ago) link
Oh, I didn't refer to their output: I referred to this unceasing social media emphasis on Isbell as if the impact of the divorce affected him more because of alcoholism, etc. It's a couple.
If we're talking about talent and compelling musical figures I considers Shires and her last album more compelling than many of Isbell's often good, rarely excellent efforts.
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 10 February 2024 01:14 (one month ago) link
― dow, Saturday, 10 February 2024 01:21 (one month ago) link
yep
― poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 10 February 2024 01:23 (one month ago) link
Also more albums etc. and today something on Google Entertainment News playing "Wanted Dead Or Alive" with ten-gallon hat and double-neck geetar---always something else showing up like that.
― dow, Saturday, 10 February 2024 01:24 (one month ago) link
― calstars, Friday, February 9, 2024 7:57 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
second only to art about the aftermath of those things, namely rehab and divorce albums. I guess we can look forward to the latter now
― Paul Ponzi, Saturday, 10 February 2024 02:06 (one month ago) link
Seeing him this weekend, but getting worried for the dude's health. The last several months: got new teeth, lost his longtime bassist, divorcing, apparently an old knee injury is getting drained before each show, and even the most hardcore of his fans are as delicately as possible noting his voice has been in rough shape lately, he's singing in lower keys, he's visibly frustrated at not being able to hit notes. I'm sure he'll get better, but it's a lot to deal with at once. It's got to be tough to be a real road warrior and then hit some roadblocks.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 26 February 2024 17:47 (one month ago) link
jeebus is this guy great tonight
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 1 March 2024 04:19 (four weeks ago) link
.@JasonIsbell sings real Fox News Biden "scandal" headlines pic.twitter.com/FY5eHIBql2— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) March 1, 2024
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 1 March 2024 22:20 (four weeks ago) link
Seeing him again last week reminded me that I've honestly never listened to too much of his recorded music, but he's had a heck of a recent run, and of course from the Truckers on he's proved himself capable of writing all-timers. I went back to read some Christgau reviews out of curiosity, and he really seems to get him, and also able to put his finger on what sets Isbell apart. He's political, but not necessarily angry. He's an intellectual, but not particularly pretentious. He's got a lot of country in him, but he's not really a country singer, and while he is a singer-songwriter for sure there are enough elements of other stuff that said him apart from that crew as well. Basically he is a musical omnivore and consummate craftsman with incredibly high standards. Don't know where he would have fit in in the '60s, '70s or '80s. John Prine? Steve Earle? Kris Kristofferson?
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 6 March 2024 15:06 (three weeks ago) link
So his voice sounded ok health-wise at the show you saw ?
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 6 March 2024 17:47 (three weeks ago) link
he's had a heck of a recent run
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Has he? I mean obv he gets bigger and bigger and I'm glad to see him thriving but Southeastern gets further and further in the rearview. he's delivered some indisputable bangers since but albumwise...
More Than Free is, in the Tom Petty tradition, half a great record.The Nashville Sound has That One Song.
I guess people are nuts for 'em but I can't find a thing on Reunions or Weathervanes I'd put on a "why do people even care about this guy" playlist.
― poster of sparks (rogermexico.), Thursday, 7 March 2024 02:46 (three weeks ago) link
I actually like the last two a lot, though I admit I was thinking of Petty when I recently played ... Free.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 7 March 2024 02:49 (three weeks ago) link
oh, and yeah, his voice sounded good, though eagle eyes noted he may have lowered the keys of a couple of songs.but to back up again, unlike Petty, there's very little on his records that sounds like filler, imo, and even the lesser songs sound really well realized, and perhaps only sound lesser because there are always two or three absolutely great songs that make most songs sound lesser. but those lesser songs, I still appreciate the craft, the lyrics, the playing, how they are recorded.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 7 March 2024 02:53 (three weeks ago) link
I think I was the sole vote for Weathervanes on the EOY poll.
I thought it was the best one for years - loved King of Oklahoma and White Beretta.
― aphoristical, Thursday, 7 March 2024 03:55 (three weeks ago) link
my top three last year were basically a tie between Weathervanes and the Wednesday and 10,000 gecs records. to me it was his best since Southeastern or More Than Free. not a single dud and I even liked the jams at the end.
I got my dad way into him really early and my mom fairly recently so it's a family affair now, the three of us have seen him together twice (just my dad and I have seen him probably 4-5 additional times). though I think my parents are pretty busted up about his divorce, and my mom was even tsk-tsking him for wearing a $2,400 Louis shirt on The Daily Show the other night lol
― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Thursday, 7 March 2024 13:08 (three weeks ago) link
lol Isbell has always admitted a taste for the finer things. funny, I know a couple of families who are all fans, too
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 7 March 2024 14:17 (three weeks ago) link
Southeastern AMore Than Free C+Nashville Sound A-Reunions CWeathervanes B
I don't love 'em all but I think it's hard to deny he's had a heck of a run.
― alpine static, Thursday, 7 March 2024 18:06 (three weeks ago) link
Southeastern would be A+ if he'd left "Super 8" off!
― alpine static, Thursday, 7 March 2024 18:08 (three weeks ago) link
Ha, I like that song, very Truckers. If Petty is the standard, that's sort of the general spread pattern I'd give to his albums as well. A couple of clear winners, mostly at least average, some undeniable all-timers raising most of them, to degrees.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 7 March 2024 18:18 (three weeks ago) link
I dug the Georgia Bluecovers album.
― paisley got boring (Eazy), Thursday, 7 March 2024 18:22 (three weeks ago) link
xpost i like the song just fine, but it doesn't fit on the album. totally messes with the flow/vibe.
― alpine static, Thursday, 7 March 2024 19:01 (three weeks ago) link
pretty wide discrepancies even within such a fairly uniform catalogue. i'd say:
Southeastern B+More Than Free A-Nashville Sound C+Reunions BWeathervanes A-
― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Thursday, 7 March 2024 20:18 (three weeks ago) link