Jason Isbell: Classic Or Dud?

From mt year-end blog round-up, still in the works:

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, Georgia Blue: Having broken on through to majority and electoral votes for the Democratic President and Senators, while Mr T tried to shake down his fellow Reds on the state level, where future counts will now have to be approved by partisan review, Georgia is now precariously Blue in more ways than one. So, good choice of R.E.M. covers at the shadowy borderlines, and plenty of rugged individuals running in the blue moonlight between. Amanda Shires cross-blows my mind with prog flight of Cat Power’s “Cross Bones Style,” ditto Jason & 400 on their blast of “Reverse” (must look up Now It’s Overhead), Steve Gorman-led “Sometimes Salvation” is fearless pushback query (forgot the Black Crowes had it in ‘em), Julien Baker and Brandi Carlile duet on the Indigo Girls’ “Kid Fears,” while JI does right by “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long”(following Otis Redding!? That’s tough). He and the Unit and Pete Levin pay their respects to “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed,” although I’d have rather heard him on a Gregg ballad, but then, vocal of his life on Vic Chesnutt’s gauntlet-and-chains-off “I’m THROUGH.” A few others may take some warming up to, but this was musically and otherwise worth my bucks (as Xgau sez, “proceeds [are] divided among Black Voters Matter, Stacey Abrams’s Fair Fight outfit, and Georgia’s STAND-UP [Strategic Alliance for New Directions and Unified Policies]).”

(oops, one too many "now"s, make that "are strongly sympathetic to the Indigo Girls' 'Kid Fears' "--still in the works, yeah, but pretty much it otherwise, I hope)

it's a pretty good album i think!

this guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spP3U0dRZYg

awesome cover album!

Had Hearted that covers album but then forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder.

When you know a dude's success has left him satisfied with everything he already has. Too few people with "fuck you" money ever take advantage of the position they're in.

This is good though! I don’t understand why y’all assume all artists want the same thing. I am literally trying to run you off, Randal. Please don’t purchase my product. https://t.co/eWQHOz1J93

— Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) March 8, 2022

so good

Man's got "$500k Les Paul" money, he doesn't need to beg for anyone's patronage these days.

Is he happy for being named "Randal," that's what I wonder.

Randal *Sparks*, even, like a Flannery O'Connor creation.

FWIW if you're in NYC, Jason Isbell tickets are four for $80 right now on Ticketmaster. Part of the "Summer's Live 4 Pack" deal. (Shows are on Labor Day weekend FWIW.)

Man's got "$500k Les Paul" money, he doesn't need to beg for anyone's patronage these days.

yes, truly the dream of every artist to be able to insult and alienate their fans with impunity while playing an expensive guitar

rmde

Not having to listen to idiots who tell you to shut up and sing does, in fact, sound like the dream of every artist.

Russian government officials requested that a former colonel from the country’s domestic spy agency who was convicted of murder in Germany last year be added to the US’ proposed swap of a notorious arms dealer for Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, multiple sources familiar with the discussions told CNN.

...The request was seen as problematic for several reasons, the sources told CNN, among them that Krasikov remains in German custody. As such, and because the request was not communicated formally but rather through the FSB backchannel, the US government did not view it as a legitimate counter to the US’ offer which was first revealed by CNN on Wednesday.
But underscoring how determined the Biden administration has been to get Griner and Whelan back to the US, US officials did make quiet inquiries to the Germans about whether they might be willing to include Krasikov in the trade, a senior German government source told CNN. A US official characterized the outreach as a status check on Krasikov.

The conversations were never elevated to the top levels of the German government and including Krasikov in a potential trade has not been seriously considered, the German source said. But the previously unreported discussions reveal that Russian officials have at least somewhat engaged with the US’ proposal.

...Asked for comment, a State Department official told CNN that “In order to preserve the best opportunity for a successful outcome, we’re not going to comment publicly on any speculation.”

...Multiple sources told CNN that even if it is not Krasikov, the Russians will likely demand two prisoners be released in exchange for Griner and Whelan. Russian government officials have indicated publicly in recent weeks that they want to see the release of Bout and Roman Seleznev, a convicted hacker currently serving a 27-year sentence in the US.

Shit, wrong thread, sorry!

is it?

"Russia Also Demands 'Jason Isbell & His 500K Les Paul'"

"In Russia, BLUES DRESS YOU!"

The only Amanda Shires thread we have is pretty sparse and dedicated to her prior album, so I'll just drop in here to say the new one out today is pretty fire—best thing she's made yet as a solo artist.

I was bummed to have missed the Highwomen (with Isbell on hand) as one of the awesome opening acts (along with Mavis Staples and the Dirty Knobs) for Chris Stapleton last week.

The Shires album is terrific.

"Russia Also Demands 'Jason Isbell & His 500K Les Paul'"

xpost You're not kidding, it's really good. I have no idea what her profile is, but the idea that Kacey Musgraves (who I like) filled arenas partly behind an album as boring as her last makes me hopeful this one will find its audience.

Marvelous album.

Did someone say “boring?”

who?

The idea that Kacey Musgraves (who I like) filled arenas partly behind an album as boring as her last Liked some of each of Musgraves' offerings until The Golden Hour, which is where I sleptwalked off the bus. Liked some of all of Shires' previous albums, without listening very closely---her thin voice tends to vague me out---though noted that she was rocking more, even kinda acid-rocking, on most recent previous. Will check this one out for sure, and try to pay more attention.

She and Natalie Hemby are the only two Highwomen who came away from that 2019 album still riding the same kind of energy with their next releases. Brandi and Maren went other directions.

boo on you. i love the most recent Maren album!

I actually do too! More than Brandi's newest, even. But it's still squarely in the Maren universe and not so much the Highwomen one.

Also, holy heck, the vinyl is mad cheap at Walmart right now ($8.86): https://www.walmart.com/ip/Morris-Maren-Humble-Quest-Vinyl/171108998?athbdg=L1100

I dont think Maren has ever really been in Highwomen ouevre aside from being in the irl Highwomen tho - she’s always been much more pop leaning

Yeah, I still don't like either of her first two albums, but then a couple her songs became consistent favorites of mine on the Highwomen album, and I think liking those made me more open to what's going on with Humble Quest. It's legit great.

it really is!

I loved the debut, aside from the track about "the church of country music," also enjoy several tracks on the second album and her contributions to the Highwomen album (although that one seemed like it might be a case of too many cooks spoil the broth). When she's on it, she's the or a leading dynamo of today's youngblood country pop, also personal about it, pushing back against anti-vax/mask flak when she feels so inclined. Still need to check Humble Quest.

The Shires album is her best.

Really good Shires interview (w music); she's up front about how much of the new one came from marital trouble, also some family history, incl. what she found out a couple years ago---might be more writing coming from how that fits and is still speculative, to a degree (suitable for story-song): https://www.npr.org/2022/09/07/1121465481/amanda-shires-highwomen-fiddle-jason-isbell-take-it-like-a-man

Iirc Isbell talked a bit about possibly the same problems, maybe from a different perspective, when he was promoting his most recent record, too. Like this one:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/arts/music/jason-isbell-reunions.html
(Headline "Jason Isbell, Self-Doubt and the Album That Tested His Marriage.")

He pushed everyone away — including his wife.

“He was impossible,” Shires said. “It was like he wanted help but didn’t want help.” Tension between the two simmered. At one point, recording at the legendary RCA Studio A in Nashville with his longtime producer, Dave Cobb, Isbell complained that Shires’s fiddle was too loud. “I was like, ‘Holy Christ! It’s acoustic. I can’t make it any quieter,’” she said.

The situation escalated, and Shires felt belittled. “I want him to make the best art he can but not at the expense of making me feel less,” she said. She decided to move into a hotel. “I needed space because lines were getting crossed,” she said.

“There is a constant progression for me to try to take my own experience out of the work,” Isbell said. “It’s what separates pros from beginners.”

Isbell recognized his marriage was in trouble but remained single-mindedly focused on the album. After 10 days at Nashville’s Thompson Hotel, Shires returned home, but hostilities lingered. “At one point, I said, ‘It’d be easier if somebody had cheated,’” said Isbell. “Then we could say, ‘You did this,’ or ‘I did this, and ‘Somebody needs to be real sorry.’ But it was more like, ‘We don’t know each other right now. We’re not able to speak the same language.’”

These weren’t splashy tabloid problems, they were the kinds of nebulous frustrations and quiet indignities that chip away at many marriages. “I just had faith that eventually he’d come to the realization that as good of a father and a person as he is, even not drinking, you can still inflict harm onto people,” said Shires. As Isbell acknowledged, “It took a couple months until I wrapped my head all the way around it.”

I appreciate it stressing that they were "the kinds of nebulous frustrations and quiet indignities that chip away at many marriages," which is appropriately enough to Isbell a pretty literary way to put it. He seems like a pretty compulsively honest guy, but the article notes that he can also be hard to read. It also notes that none of the domestic stuff made it into his record, though clearly that wasn't the case for Shires.

Yeah, reading that reminded me of her use of "nebulous" on Fresh Air---sounds like they were compatibly incompatible, as married writers up in the air, desperadoes under the eaves etc.:

SHIRES: So I thought if I could write a song with my feelings in it, that it might bring him around to the walls that aren't really walls that we put ourselves behind sometimes. And in this certain period of time, there was a lot. And then coupled with the pandemic and all that, he was on self-preservation mode, and I was too. But anyway - so I went and I sat down in my barn of internal wandering. And this is after some kind of nebulous argument. And I wrote "Fault Lines" and then I texted it to him, just like you'd imagine. I said, I just wrote this song. And then in my mind I thought, well, if he couldn't hear the frequency of my voice before, maybe he could hear it through music, you know? And one day, we wound up in the studio, and we cut the song. And after we recorded it, he said, that's a really good song. And I said, that's all you have to say?

(LAUGHTER)

Which relates to:

“There is a constant progression for me to try to take my own experience out of the work,” Isbell said. “It’s what separates pros from beginners.”

Just saw both of his shows here. He's a great singer-songwriter, of course, and a great guitar player, but boy is his band good, too. They ended with a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh, Well" that more than did it justice. Also did a couple of his Truckers song, and their version of "Never Gonna Change" was absolutely on fire. Made me miss the presence of his songs in Truckers sets, but ... oh, well.

yeah otm his band is so awesome

I remember when this all came together on twitter, Paula mentioning in an interview that she was really into Isbell and John Paul White, Isbell reading and then retweeting it and roping JPW into the mix. Can't find the original series of tweets now, but it was sometime early in the pandemic. Anyway, here's the finished product and it's pretty nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sgCPuY1bik

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op-EEnArgqc

(New album imminent, too.)

Is he wearing a Fever Ray t-shirt? If so, respect

I dreaded reading this, but couldn't look away

Past Drinking and Near Divorce: 8 Revelations in Jason Isbell’s New HBO Documentary
Jason Isbell: Running with Our Eyes Closed offers an unflinching look at the intersection of the songwriter's personal and creative lives

Yeah.

My marriage left me with plenty of heavy trauma that I’m still working through after all these years and I’ll not be watching the doc anytime soon. I’m sure it’s truly great and poignant and inspiring and I genuinely wish everyone well

— Shonna Tucker (@ShonnaTucker) April 7, 2023