CD Odyssey Disc 1663: Jason Isbell

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

CD Odyssey Disc 1625: Jason Isbell

For this next review I did not roll randomly. This is because I was going to see this artist live and I like to match up a recent album release with a live show wherever I can. In this case, the most recent album dates all the way back to 2020, but that’s the last time they released a studio album, so little choice there.

Anyway, if you like this artist, and want to read about their live show just scroll to the end of the review and you’ll find it there. Or better yet, read the review first. Presumably that is why you came here in the first place.

Disc 1625 is…Reunions

Artist: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Year of Release: 2020

What’s up with the Cover?  A very small Jason Isbell on a very stark and featureless plain. This album was released the same year as Anna Tivel’s “The Question” (see review at Disc 1408 for the cover art), which leaves me to believe stark grey expanses featuring tiny human figures were all the rage three years ago.

I assume what with that whole pandemic thing going on, depictions of social distancing were a natural choice for an album’s cover art.

How I Came To Know It: I am a big Jason Isbell fan, so this was me buying his new album and hoping for the best.

How It Stacks Up: Turns out this wasn’t the best. I have five Jason Isbell albums and Reunions comes in at #5.

Rating: 3 stars (hey, it is still good).

“Reunions” did not get off on the right foot with me, but it steadily improves across its tastefully restrained 10 tracks. By the end, I was content and glad to have yet another fine collection of Jason Isbell classics in the collection.

The initial problem felt like a friendly musical argument. Jason clearly felt that “What’ve I Done To Help” and “Dreamsicle” were the songs to catch the listener’s attention. Both did so in different ways, but in neither case was it a good thing.

“What’ve I Done To Help” is an intriguing mood piece, and it showcases Isbell’s light and airy vocal style to good effect, so no complaints there. My problem with this track is it slowly adds more and more production into the tune, eventually decaying into the wail of an electric guitar that drifts around in the middle of the mix. That and it’s six-plus minute length makes it feel like it is trying too hard to be artsy.

“Dreamsicle” is a pretty enough song, and I love the sound of Isbell’s guitar strum. It also has his oft-employed song structure of three internal rhymes followed by an effortless country hook to hang all the awesome off. My main gripe here was the chorus, which has a melody that connects awkwardly to the verses. “Dreamsicle” is also an odd image. Is this supposed to evoke something between old summer memory and a frozen ice cream treat? Maybe the loss of innocence as felt through old memories? If so I get it but that doesn’t mean it inspired me.

I am happy to advise that despite the false start, the album quickly gains momentum, with quality Jason Isbell singing and songwriting.

There is plenty to recommend from the mid-point onward, starting with the Drive-By-Trucker style rocker, “Overseas”. Isbell is a natural storyteller, capturing theme, mood and dramatic tension all through a few images, chosen with care and arranged in just the right order. The song starts with this emotional latticework of visuals:

“This used to be a ghost town
But even the ghosts got out
And the sound of the highway died
There's ashes in the swimming pool
But I saw you on your wedding night
And I watched you sleeping in my arms
You didn't wash your make-up off
And you woke up looking scared as hell”

Great stuff and on the chorus he even lets that famous guitar playing growl a little to remind you he’s mostly country, but he’s also more than a little rock and roll.

Another standout on the record is “It Gets Easier”. Playing off the old “easy does it” from AA, this song clarifies that there isn’t anything easy about it. Isbell often explores his journey and I hope he keeps doing so if it keeps bringing out such great songwriting.

This record grew on me with repeat listens. I could have lived without the first two tracks but after that I was all in, and enjoyed the rest of the journey right down the line.

Best tracks: Overseas, St. Peter’s Autograph, It Gets Easier, Letting You Go

The Concert: March 7, 2020, Royal Theatre ,Victoria BC

For the second straight show at the Royal, Sheila and I treated ourselves to “loge” seats. For those of you who don’t know, “loge” are those fancy box seats hanging off the side of the wall in old-timey concert halls. It’s where you can imagine royals or famous people sitting, or if you are a fan of the Muppet Show, the place from which Statler and Waldorf heckle Fozzie Bear.

Sheila and I did not heckle the show – we just like being in a spot where people can’t kick the back of your seat and there’s plenty of legroom. Also, it is a great perch for people watching.

Kathleen Edwards

The opening act was Kathleen Edwards. Edwards is a good thematic match to Isbell’s style, occupying that same space somewhere midway between country and rock, with a healthy helping of whatever “indie” means these days.

She was definitely a better match to Isbell’s vibe than when we saw him in Portland in 2017. Then he was matched with Frank Turner and while I’m a huge Frank Turner fan, the energy of the two acts make for a weird alignment. For more on that show, go read my review at Disc 1050.

Back briefly to Kathleen Edwards, who had taken a long break from music before returning in 2020. You could see she was glad to be back and recharged after a time away. She had a good energy and despite the limited set available to all openers, did a good job of mixing in the stuff the longtime fans wanted to hear with some modern material.

Overall I liked Edwards, although there were a couple of tracks where she and the band took off down a path of experimental noodle that bordered on the self-indulgent. Also, the sound guy needed to tone down the volume, as the natural acoustics of the Royal can easily overheat the mix if you aren’t careful.

Jason Isbell

When Jason Isbell took the stage the crowd was thunderous with enthusiasm, and I could tell immediately it was going to be a good show. Isbell seemed to sense it as well, waving with a disarming smile before getting into his usual schtick of standing still, and swapping guitars a lot.

Isbell has a lot of guitars, and dude can play. Through the course of the evening he showed off his country strumming, his rock and roll mastery, a bit of soul and everything in between. The highlight was him and fellow guitarist Sadler Vaden (yes, that’s his name) doing a bluegrass-infused version of “Tour of Duty”. Watching two masters play off one another and effortlessly trade solos without ever stepping on each other was a true treat.

In terms of setlist there was a good mix of the three corners of any good show: new tunes, old favourites, and a couple deep cuts.

The new tracks sadly featured those two songs I mentioned above, but I think he may have cut the noodle elements of “What’ve I Done To Help” short. If not, it felt tighter and more focused so, kudos.

Lots of crowd pleasers were to be had, including rocked out versions of “24 Frames” and “Something More Than Free” which were the songs that helped me discover Isbell years ago and remain favourites. I’m sick of hearing “Super 8” but at least he still plays it with gusto.

Isbell ended the main set with “Cover Me Up” which is touching and undertsated love song, and one that had a perfect mix for the room. As I noted in the Kathleen Edwards piece above, the Royal’s sound can get a bit overheated but they nailed it on the softer tunes, and none better than “Cover Me Up”.

Deep cut wise, I enjoyed Isbell pulling out “Goddamn Lonely Love” from his Drive-By Trucker days. If I were to quibble I’d note my disappointment that Isbell didn’t play “Speed Trap Town” which is one of my all-time favourites. He’d played it live in 2017 so I held out hope, but what the hell – you gotta change up the setlist, so no judgments.

The band wisely ended the show with the tear-jerking masterpiece that is “If We Were Vampires” which likely had couples around the room sharing tear-stained embraces as they thought about how damn lucky we are to find that special someone. I assume it was happening in the cheap seats – it was definitely happening in the loge.

As for the crowd, it was terrific. A mix of everyone from their mid-twenties to their mid-fifties with plenty of whoops and cheers, all placed at the right time to add to the ambience, and not interrupt the tunes. Even the two dudes sitting in front of me didn’t shift around too much, affording me an uninterrupted view of the stage throughout the night.

Finally, a quick note on the merch table. I have high standards for a merch table. It should have stickers, and it damn well better have more than one style of t-shirt in a medium. Isbell had all of that and trucker hats to boot. A-.

All around a pretty great show, and one that will have me hoping Isbell returns to Victoria soon.

CD Odyssey Disc 1120: Middle Brother

Ever have a week with too much to do and not enough time to do it? Of course you have. Well I’m having one right now.

Disc 1120 is… Middle Brother (Self-Titled)

Artist: Middle Brother

Year of Release: 2011

What’s up with the Cover? Three hip cats just hanging out. John McCauley is wearing a Black Flag shirt which probably means he’s a fan, but there’s a chance he’s being ironic. There’s no way to know with these hipsters without asking, and I don’t have his number.

How I Came To Know It: Middle Brother was ranked #93 on Paste Magazine’s “100 Top indie folk albums of all time”. I’m not sure I would rank them #93, but I know a lot of folk albums and it is a seriously good one. I would have had it sooner but it was filed under “Deer Tick” at my local record store. More on why in a minute.

How It Stacks Up:  This is the only Middle Brother album so it can’t stack up.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

When it comes to super groups there are plenty genres other than rock and roll where big names come together to do something new. “Middle Brother” is indie folk-rock’s answer to the super group.

But how super are they? The incorporate the core songwriting talents from the bands Deer Tick (John McCauley), Dawes (Taylor Goldsmith) and Delta Spirit (Matt Vasquez). I have two Dawes albums, had vaguely heard of Deer Tick and didn’t know who Delta Spirit was, so I wasn’t terribly impressed at the outset. However, Youtube puts these bands at a few hundred thousand hits up to two million, which for an indie band is pretty damned super. Jason Isbell even guests on guitar.

OK, so there are some big (for the genre) names here but is the music any good? Yes, it is. Middle Brother’s three principle songwriters all know their craft well and while they wear their influences on their sleeves, they wear them well. I’m not sure what tracks Isbell are on, but the guitar work throughout is excellent.

The album hearkens back to the early crossover days of folk, country and rock and both the songs and their delivery had me thinking of the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers. This is partly the nasal delivery of at least two of the “brothers” reminding me of Roger McGuinn but it goes deeper than that, and is found in the celebratory jangle present in even the sadder songs.

I also felt the influence of early rock and roll, and on “Me Me Me” I felt like half the A section was from Elvis Presley’s “Don’t Be Cruel.” At any moment I was expecting at least one ‘brother’ to walk down to a preacher and say “I do”.

As you would expect from three accomplished songwriters there are some beautiful turns of phrase. The album begins with “Daydreaming” a sublimely plucked guitar and the lines:

“Early in the morning too hung over to go back to sleep

Every sound is amplified, every light so dizzying.

Listen for a while to the neighbours having sex

Wishing I could lay my aching head upon your breast.”

Great stuff from John McCauley, but every one of the trio has equally great stuff on the record. Unfortunately, it feels like they cram all their best material onto the front half of the record, and my favourite songs are the first six.

The last of those is “Portland,” the album’s only cover, features a jaunty high-voiced guitar that provides the perfect juxtaposition to the song’s themes of collapse and decadence. When I went to Youtube to hear the Replacements original I found myself disappointed. With its rounded tones and eighties production it just lacked the poignancy that Middle Brother manages to generate with their stark and honest delivery.

After “Portland” the album took a slightly downward turn. “Wilderness” is solid, with some great turns of phrase (my favourite: “I plan to be the kind of person that when he drinks, he disappoints”) but kind of lost me at the refrain, which isn’t a good place for a song to lose you.

After this there are a series of songs that reminded me of early Beatles, which would be great if you like early Beatles, but it isn’t my thing.  “Million Dollar Bill” is a pretty ending to the record, and I liked it, but as songs of lost love and regret go, I preferred the earlier track “Thanks for Nothing.”

These are minor quibbles, though, and the only real issue I had with Side Two was that it couldn’t match the sheer brilliance of Side One. Most records wish they could have that problem.

This is a record worth owning, and I left it with a strong sense that it will grow on me more and more with repeat listens.

Best tracks: Daydreaming, Blue Eyes, Thanks for Nothing, Middle Brother, Theatre, Portland

CD Odyssey Disc 1107: Jason Isbell

I was supposed to spend last weekend watching the Boston Bruins play the Vancouver Canucks. However, a storm blew up and high winds cancelled our flights so we never even made it out of town.

Instead I paid $400 to stay home, hang out with friends and play board games. I consider it $400 well spent. As for the game, I didn’t miss anything after all because the Bruins lost.

Disc 1107 is… Here We Rest

Artist: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Year of Release: 2011

What’s up with the Cover? Put a bird on it! It’s a painting by Browan Lollar, who also played guitar on the record. Lollar was part of Isbell’s backing band, the 400 Unit, for only this one album. That’s too bad, because this is some pretty sweet bird art.

What kind of bird is it? I’m no John James Audubon but I’m going to guess that these are…American Goldfinches. These two are either fighting over a piece of ribbon or planning to build a nest with it. Because I’m a romantic I’m going to with the latter.

How I Came To Know It: I discovered Jason Isbell in 2015 when he released “Something More Than Free” (reviewed back at Disc 1088). This was just me drilling through his back catalogue.

How It Stacks Up:  I have four Jason Isbell albums. Of those four, “Here We Rest” ranks fourth. Hey, someone has to finish last.

Ratings: 3 stars

Sometimes it takes an artist a few albums to fully find their voice and for me it was Jason Isbell’s third solo album that began to showcase the artist he would become. His storyteller’s heart reveals itself here, and while “Here We Rest” is uneven here and there it has more than enough natural brilliance to carry it through.

The album opens strong with “Alabama Pines.” I prefer Isbell’s work after “Here We Rest” but “Alabama Pines” is a timeless classic that equals anything you’ll hear on any of the three classic albums that follow. Here he learns to strip down a song, letting his songwriting shine through, mixing the locomotive-like boom-chuck Johnny Cash rhythm with his signature high and airy vocals.

“Alabama Pines” also showcases Isbell’s natural talent to turn a phrase and make an image that serves a story evocative in its own right. When he sings “I needed that damn woman like a dream needs gasoline” you are struck that sometimes desires feel like they do need gasoline. Yeah, it makes them flammable and hazardous, but it also fuels them.

The album showcases Isbell’s love of the blues, and the guitar work on “Go It Alone” is solid and tastefully understated. He takes a more traditional barroom blues style on “Never Could Believe” that feels a little dated, but there’s no denying the guitar work despite the song not being one of my favourites. Even when he is playing a more Americana style, Isbell’s love of the blues comes through in his subject matter; hard scrabble lives of characters with bad habits and bad choices.

On “Codeine” a man knows his woman isn’t coming home so long as she can get a fix from an erstwhile friend down the road. The girl in “Daisy Mae” seeks succor from a dangerous man while fleeing an even darker situation.

In the middle of the album there is the inexplicable “The Ballad of Nobeard” which is a Tom Waits style accordion that stands out like a sore thumb and feels more indulgent than purposeful. However, since it is all over and done within 27 seconds it is easy to forgive. “Ballad of Nobeard” leads into a few of the weaker songs on the back half of the record where Isbell is in danger of losing all the momentum gained to that point.

Fortunately, things recover at the end with another galloping rhythm playing backdrop to a subtle character study with “Tour of Duty.” The song features a veteran returning from war, and evokes a mix of hope for the future with the recognition that there are going to be some struggles adapting to a simpler life. Isbell takes that excitement you get when you see your loved one after a long absence multiplies it by a thousand and then tints the edges of the experience with an optimism born in sorrow.

This ability to paint nuance where a lesser songwriter would steer exclusively to patriotism or tragedy is what makes Isbell great. Knowing he is just going to get better and better from here made me appreciate “Here We Rest” all the more.

Best tracks: Alabama Pines, We’ve Met, Codeine, Daisy Mae, Tour of Duty

CD Odyssey Disc 1088: Jason Isbell

2017 was a successful year in music. I bought 41 albums released last year, and so far I’ve reviewed 11. Two didn’t make the cut and have since departed the collection. 

I spent the holidays reading other people’s top ten lists thinking I could do better. So here is my Top 10 list out of those 41 albums, and probably another 50 or so that I gave a cursory listen to but didn’t impress me sufficiently for me to add them to the collection.

10.  Joan Shelley – Joan Shelley

9.  Secret Sisters – You Don’t Own Me Anymore

8.  Sera Cahoone – From Where I Started

7.  Mountain Goats – Goths (Reviewed at Disc 1043)

6.  Sheer Mag – Need To Feel Your Love

5.  Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels 3

4.  Dori Freeman – Letters Never Read

3.  St. Vincent – Masseduction

2.  Conor Oberst – Salutations

1.  Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – The Nashville Sound (Reviewed at Disc 1050)

Honourable mention: Beck – Colors, Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile – Lotta Sea Lice, Margo Price – All American Made, Torres – Three Futures

Anyone who says no one is making good music these days should go listen to those 10 albums and prove themselves wrong.

Disc 1088 is…Something More Than Free

Artist: Jason Isbell

Year of Release: 2015

What’s up with the Cover? A Giant Head cover leans awkwardly out of frame. Some kind of flower gets equal billing.

How I Came To Know It: This album was my introduction to Jason Isbell, after I read a review a couple years ago. Since then I’ve gone on to buy three more Isbell records. This was also my gateway into Isbell’s former band, the Drive-By Truckers, so it was a pretty successful musical discovery.

How It Stacks Up:  I have four Jason Isbell albums. “The Nashville Sound” is the best (see “best of 2017” list above). 2013’s “Southeastern” puts in a solid argument it should be second but I’ll give the edge to “Something More Than Free”.

Ratings: 4 stars

Compared to other Jason Isbell albums, “Something More than Free” is practically jaunty, but don’t be fooled; the album is as serious and contemplative as any of Isbell’s other efforts. If anything, the catchy anthems on the record just make its explorations of the human condition that much more effective at sneaking up on you.

Isbell’s previous effort, “Southeastern” is a thick and moody blend of folk, rock and country and there are many songs on “Something More Than Free” that follow that formula again with solid results. Isbell is an accomplished guitar player who can lay down a mournful blues-rock riff and an evocative strum with equal grace.

Here he adds pop elements that lift the musical tone of the record in places. This doesn’t detract from his brilliant songwriting, but instead bring more dynamic range to the record. In fact, the album’s two most pop-oriented songs, “24 Frames” and “Something More Than Free” are what initially drew my interest. These are songs that on a very surface level could be mistaken for empty Nashville Nu-Country, but it only takes a couple of verses to demonstrate that Isbell is digging deeper, both lyrically and musically.

On the title track Isbell takes good ole boy working man blues and manly-man topics and blends them with subtle irony that makes it clear that all that hard work, old time religion and clean livin’ are much more complicated than they seem. The character in the song feels “just lucky to have the work” but as an audience we bear witness to the terrible toll a lifetime of subsistence living takes on a man. Isbell manages to create a nuanced mixture of admiration for the working man, and criticism of the system that grinds him down.

Isbell is the master of creative love songs and this record’s entry is “Flagship.” Here Isbell pleads to his lover to not let the magic of their love fade as years pass. The song features an allusion to Springsteen’s “Racing in the Streets” – a song where love has faded over the years – and vows to not fall into the same trap. The Springsteen song laments:

“I met her on the strip three years ago
In a Camaro with this dude from L.A.
I blew that Camaro off my back and drove that little girl away
But now there's wrinkles around my baby's eyes
And she cries herself to sleep at night
When I come home the house is dark
She sighs "Baby did you make it all right"
She sits on the porch of her daddy's house
But all her pretty dreams are torn
She stares off alone into the night
With the eyes of one who hates for just being born
For all the shut down strangers and hot rod angels
Rumbling through this promised land
Tonight my baby and me we're gonna ride to the sea
And wash these sins off our hands”

And on “Flagship” Isbell puts his own spin on the story with:

“Then I see you in that summer when we met
And that boy you left in tears in his Corvette
Baby let's not ever get that way
I'll drive you to the ocean every day.

We'll stay up in the presidential suite
And call ourselves the flagship of the fleet.”

The song shows an appreciation of musical history as Isbell reimagines the story in a way that both honours the source material and adds a fresh twist to the lesson within it. And if you noticed the switch of car models it is worth noting that the Corvette is considered one of Chevrolet’s “flagship” vehicles.

Isbell’s songwriting talents frequently make me think of Bruce Springsteen or Steve Earle, with his ability to evoke powerful emotions out of very specific small-town imagery. On the brilliant “Speed Trap Town” he evokes the restless trapped feeling of a man confronting the imminent death of his father, but lines like...

“It’s a Thursday night but there’s a high school game

Sneak a bottle up the bleachers and forget my name

These 5-A bastards run a shallow cross

It’s a boy’s last dream and a man’s first loss”

...set the mood of those events through specific, grounded imagery that set the emotional backdrop far more effectively than any obvious bedside hospital scene could manage.

The album is book-ended by songs about being on the road. “If It Takes a Lifetime” about how you lose yourself out there (best line: “I thought the highway loved me/but she beat me like a drum”) and “To A Band I Loved” where Isbell reminds himself how as a young man he was inspired by seeing a band and now he is out there every night, weary and beaten like a drum, but hopefully inspiring those that will come after him.

It is a quiet acceptance of the sacrifices we make, whether for life or art, and how those sacrifices matter. It is a subtle blend of admitting and absorbing frailty and trusting it will make you stronger.

The only issue I have with this album is that in the two years since I bought it I’ve played the living hell out of it. Fortunately, it inspired so many other amazing Isbell purchases I can now safely rotate them without overdoing it.

Best tracks: If It Takes a Lifetime, 24 Frames, Flagship, Something More Than Free, Speed Trap Town, To a Band That I Loved

CD Odyssey Disc 1050: Jason Isbell

Sorry for the delay in reviews, gentle reader, but I’ve been on the road, seeing a whole bunch of bands and buying a whole bunch of music.

Sheila and I went to San Francisco, Portland, and Vancouver to see a football game (49ers/Panthers) as well as three concerts. One of those concerts was Jason Isbell, and to read a review simply scroll to the bottom of the album review below.

I also saw a bunch of other cool bands, including Frank Turner, Sparkbox, the Francis Luke Accord and Trapper Schoepp and there wasn’t a bad apple in the box. Since I bought a bunch of albums by these bands, look for similar reviews to this one coming soon…

And when you get tired of those reviews, don’t worry. I found about 20 albums worth of music I’ve been looking for at such great record stores as Amoeba Records in San Francisco and Everyday Music in Portland. Amoeba in particular is an awe-inspiring display of music and a must-see if you are a music fan in San Francisco. Many thanks to my friend Mack for the recommendation.

Enough of this. Let’s get to talking about one of the best albums of 2017 so far, and one of the best concerts I’ve seen this year as well.

Disc 1050 is…The Nashville Sound

Artist: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Year of Release: 2017

What’s up with the Cover? It’s like a poster for one of those heist movies like Oceans 11. Maybe the 400 Unit is going to rob the Grand Ole Opry!

How I Came To Know It: I was already a fan of Jason Isbell when this came out so it was just me buying his new release.

How It Stacks Up:  I have four Jason Isbell albums and all of them are fantastic, but the Nashville Sound is his best yet, so #1.

Ratings: 5 stars

Over the last six years Jason Isbell has released four albums, with each one better than the last. That trajectory to excellence culminates (for now) with “The Nashville Sound,” an Isbell opus that is heart-wrenching, thought-provoking and altogether sublime.

Like the band where he got his start (The Drive-By Truckers) Isbell’s sound is a mix of southern rock and alt-country. The combination provides a wider palette of musical experience than you might expect with guitar driven rock, sweeping ballads and painful confessionals.

Even though many of the songs are narratives about fictional characters, Isbell’s intensely personal writing style makes it impossible to separate his own experiences from those of his characters. Recovering from alcohol abuse and making a fresh start, the record maintains a delicate balance between fresh optimism and wince-inducing regret.

Musically, the record has an easy roll to it, with musicians that are clearly comfortable playing with one another and who find the groove with grace. Flourishes of guitar licks and violin cuts layer light brush strokes over top of traditional rock and country rhythms creating a lattice-work of sound that never sounds busy, but keeps your ear engaged all the same. With the instruments perfectly balanced in the mix, you can fall into this music and explore as deep as you want and even on multiple listens there’ll still be something new to catch your fancy.

Or you can just follow along with the great storyteller Jason Isbell, as he sings his high airy drawl.  Isbell’s vocal power is underrated, and he sings every word with conviction.

In 2016 Isbell’s former band, the Drive-By Truckers released their own masterpiece about the American cultural landscape with “American Band” (reviewed back at Disc 932) but as great as that record was, Isbell has taken it to a new level.

Where “American Band” took a direct and unapologetic look at the problems they see in their society, Isbell’s approach is slightly more oblique, but even more powerful. This is an album that is filled with doubt, as Isbell explores race relations (“White Man’s World”) and the challenges of a changing landscape for blue collar America (“Last of My Kind”). There are no easy answers here, just a man expressing confusion about what comes next, what still matters and why.

This album finds Isbell recently sober and a father as of 2015, and clearly reborn with a newfound sense of purpose. “Molotov” has Isbell making a newfound commitment to a healthy lifestyle after years of hard living. He artfully contrasts the power of a bottle of liquor to destroy you, and the love of a good woman to build you back:

“I broke a promise to myself

To ride the throttle ‘til the wheels came off

Burn out like a Molotov in the night sky.

I broke a promise to myself

And made a couple to a brown-eyed girl

Who rode with me through this mean old world

Never say die.”

Brilliant as “Molotov” the album’s masterpiece is “If We Were Vampires.” The song captures both the height of sadness and romance in a single concept – that we aren’t going to live forever, but the briefness of what we’ve got is what makes it so poignant. As Isbell puts it:

“It’s not the long flowing dress that you’re in

Or the light coming off of your skin

The fragile heart you protected so long

Or the mercy in your sense of right and wrong”

…

“It’s knowing that this can’t go on forever

Likely one of us will have to spend some days alone

Maybe we’ll get forty years together, but one day I’ll be gone

Or one day you’ll be gone.”

I can’t even type the words without getting a lump in my throat, and Isbell’s singing takes it to a whole other level.

This is an album about so many interconnected things: characters trying to find their way in the world, a contemplation on what kind of world we want that to be, and of all the doubts and anxieties that are a daily part of being human, but not the only part. As Isbell sings on “Hope the High Road”

“I know you’re tired and you ain’t sleeping well

Uninspired and likely mad as hell

But wherever you are I hope the high road leads you home again.”

The Nashville Sound refuses to provide easy answers; it isn’t even sure there are any answers. But in exhorting us to walk the high road, it is one of the most inspiring albums I’ve ever heard.

Best tracks: All tracks, although.

The Concert – September 11, 2017 – Keller Auditorium, Portland

Given how much I loved the new album, and the fact that the show featured not one, but two of my favourite current acts (the opener was Frank Turner) expectations were high for me on this show. For me it was like the alt-country/indie equivalent of the Black Sabbath/Blue Oyster Cult tour in 1980. At 10 years old, I missed that show but there was no way I was missing this one, and Sheila and I built our travel itinerary around making sure we were there.

So did it measure up to the hype in my mind? Yes it did.

Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls

The opening act was Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls. When I saw Frank Turner in 2015 at the Neptune in Seattle it was one of the greatest live shows I’d ever seen, and I was curious to see how he was going to translate his talents from a dance hall style venue into a sit-down auditorium and adjust going from headliner to opening act.

The answer was: artfully. Turner is a born showman, and despite coming out to an audience that was about 80% Jason Isbell fans, he seized the place with a raw energy from the get go, rocking out self-affirming anthems like “The Next Storm,” “Recovery” and “Get Better” with a pure joy that got the auditorium’s attention.

Frank is known for getting his audience participating, which was exactly what his hard-core fans expect, but I could tell a good chunk of the Jason Isbell audience wasn’t sure what to make of him. Also, there were more than a few sidelong glances at the Frank Turner army sprinkled through the auditorium singing “we’re not dead yet!” back at their hero in a jubilant, boisterous – and occasionally in tune – fashion.

Through the course of his 9-10 song set, Frank won most of the audience over. He brought a woman up on stage at random and let her play a harmonica solo, and anticipating most of the audience didn’t know just how to sing the “oh-oh-oh-ohs” in “Josephine” he just gave them one note to make noise, and those more knowledgeable filled in the blanks.

He’s better as a headliner in a place where you can dance, but this was still amazing.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

By the time Jason Isbell took the stage, I was more than a little amped up from Frank, but while Isbell’s delivery is a bit more down-home and countrified he kept the energy up. He was also every bit as emotionally true and impactful as Frank, which is no easy task.

Loving his new album as much as I do, I was pretty excited that he played almost the entire record, mixing in three or four songs off of each of his earlier releases along the way for variety. These songs were just the right mix of deep cuts and crowd favourites.

Highlights included heart-wrenching versions of “Elephant” (a song about dying of cancer off of his 2013 album “Southeastern”), “Speed Trap Town” (off of 2015’s “Something More Than Free” and “If We Were Vampires” off the current album. Every one of them put tears in my eyes.

I was disappointed Isbell’s wife and the 400 Unit’s violin player, Amanda Shires, wasn’t with the band but they did a solid job of subtly adjusting the arrangements so the gap wasn’t noticeable. Also guitar player Sadler Vaden, who has a Mike Campbell kind of sound, dropped some solid solos. Isbell is also accomplished on the guitar and the two of them traded lead duties back and forth all night to good effect.

Isbell had the right amount of banter and his Alabama drawl and aw-shucks demeanor are relaxing and authentic.

The only negative musically was during the encore, which I thought was a bit over-amped, but other than that the sound mix was top-notch the whole night.

Visually, there was a surprisingly cool light show, complete with a big tattoo-style anchor design on the back wall that flashed hypnotically in all kinds of different colours.

The fans were appreciative but they weren’t going to break any records for loudest audience. Again, the emotional separation that comes from too much i-Phone recording and not enough soaking in the music was a bit distracting. The guy beside me filmed and took pictures but never applauded once for either artist. It was weird, but whatever.

I would see Isbell again in a heartbeat, though. He is an accomplished songwriter who plays a mean guitar solo, and he sings live with an earnest grace. Taken together with Turner as the opener, this was one of the better concerts I’ve seen in this or any year.