Sheila is away and I’m having a weekend living like a bachelor. It doesn’t happen very often and feels weird. When I’m in front of the TV I’m always looking over at the other couch expecting to see her there. Which may be just as well, because she’d be telling me to turn off all the World War Two documentaries I’ve been watching.
All the same, I miss her and will be glad when she’s back tonight.
Disc 1663 is…Sirens of the Ditch
Artist: Jason Isbell
Year of Release: 2007
What’s up with the Cover? “OK, son, you can drive the truck but only on the farm property, not on the road. You’re only 15 and I don’t want you gettin’ a ticket.”
How I Came To Know It: I have been a Jason Isbell fan for years, but I must have overlooked this record in my journey through his back catalogue.
Then a couple weeks ago I was in the record store buying his newest record, “Weathervanes” and saw “Sirens of the Ditch” in there with it. I didn’t recognize it so I took a chance and brought it home too.
How It Stacks Up: I have seven Jason Isbell albums (I’m still missing his 2009 eponymous release, and I got rid of 2021’s “Georgia Blue” because…I didn’t like it. So, of the albums I do have (again, seven), I rank “Sirens of the Ditch” fifth.
Rating: 3 stars
“Sirens of the Ditch” is Isbell’s first album after leaving the Drive By Truckers. Isbell’s solo work would later soften out at the edges, but here it is still guitar forward as he explores the newfound freedom of having a whole record to himself.
The record starts off with the energetic, “Brand New Kind of Actress” which is a rollicking good tune. I’m not sure what the plot of the tune is, but it is some kind of Craig Finn style exploration of lowlifes. I think.
The record’s best tune is “Dress Blues” which is about a young man who dies in some overseas war. Based on the references to sand and the release date of the record, I’ll say it is Iraq. This tune has that gentle, plaintive cry in Isbell’s vocal that becomes much more common on later records. It’s a hurt-filled tragic tune, and Isbell delivers it with just the right mix of reverence and grief.
“Hurricanes and Hand Grenades” is one of the tunes that hold the record back a bit. It comes off as an unfinished blues noodles, and more about Isbell showcasing his talent for slow-hand. Isbell is a great guitar player, but songs like this one that seem designed for no other reason than showing that off never land well with me. Also, this song features very little in the way of hurricanes and hand grenades. Tunes like this one and “The Devil is My Running Mate” feel like Isbell has fallen in love with a phrase and isn’t sure what to do with it. Kill your darlings, Jason.
I prefer when Isbell is content with a lively country strum, like he delivers on “The Magician” and letting the song unfold naturally. Isbell tells great stories, and when the instruments serve the tale they benefit most. There is some beautiful picking bits in the bridge of this song, but they are understated and light. They traipse about in the middle of the mix and could easily go unnoticed if you were listening for them. When you do tune in, it is worth your time. When Isbell sings the line “I am an orphan man, but ain’t we all” it feels like he’s channeling Gillian Welch’s “Orphan Girl”. At least that’s how I imagine it.
Overall, this is a solid record and I’m glad I bought it on a whim.
Best tracks: Brand New Kind of Actress, Chicago Promenade, Dress Blues, In a Razor Town, The Magician
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