Jason Isbell

[lefty]

I know there are maybe a couple of people around here that like Jason Isbell. His new solo album Southeastern was released today, and I believe it's by far his best stuff since leaving DBT. I've really liked his other solo album and the two with the 400 Unit, but I just didn't think they were as strong from top and bottom as he is capable of doing. I think he's finally earning credit for work as his own artist and not just as that guy that wrote some killer songs for the Truckers.

His sound has continued to move more toward the country side so I generally don't expect a ton of RMers to dig him, but if you like really sad songs, I recommend you check the new album out. You can definitely hear that his fairly recent friendship with Ryan Adams (which may or may not already be over since he did not produce the album as originally expected) has influenced several of the tracks. Also, if you are familiar with his past at all, it's really interesting how hauntingly personal many of them are. If you aren't as familiar, the NYT and WSJ articles that came out recently are great reads about him.

Here's Elephant, which is pretty damn sad, but one of my new favorites.

[mf]

yeah this albums is great. there are a couple of tunes that i'm not big on but most of it is really solid

[lefty]

I'm really digging all of them except for Super 8. It's not really the song itself, because it sounds a lot like a decent Cooley song, but it doesn't really fit into the rest of the album to me.

[mf]

yeah that's probably the one i'm struggling with the most as well.

elephant, live oak and cover me up are my favorites right now. basically all the miserable songs . i think isbell is at his best when it's just him and a guitar.

the whole album is streaming here:
http://www.mtvhive.com/2013/06/03/jason ... theastern/

[lefty]

Those three are probably my favs as well. You're right about just him and his guitar. A while back, I caught one of the theater shows he was doing with Ryan Adams. I had heard all of the songs he payed before, but it had been with DBT or with the 400 Unit so it was a great contrast. I also enjoy listening to him tell stories along with the songs, which he does a lot when playing by himself. Unfortunately, I've seen a lot of people get really hateful about artists that like to talk about things in between songs. I was at a Patterson Hood and Todd Snider show last year, and a few people actually started booing them for talking in between. I couldn't believe people would be so disrespectful to someone who is trying to connect with his audience on an unusually personal level.

[mf]

people are dicks.

[lefty]

If you follow Jason on Twitter, you will know he 1) he tweets a lot 2) he's a big Atlanta Braves fan. Well, he received props earlier from Dale Murphy on the new album. It may just be the highlight of his career.

[JH]

I'm a big Isbell fan and absolutely love this album. Standout tracks to me are Elephant, Stockholm, Live Oak & Songs That She Sang In The Shower, but, honestly, the whole album is great.

[sherpahigh]

Huge Isbell fan. I've enjoyed all of his past stuff as well with DBT, solo and with the 400 Unit. This one's proving to be solid front to back for me with Elephant, Stockholm and Cover Me Up probably being the front runners.

Caught him here at a tiny venue with maybe 50 other people. Just him and his guitar and god damn was it a fantastic show. Such a great story teller. Along with the NYT and WSJ articles this is another great read:

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/17 ... on-isbell/

[sherpahigh]

You can definitely hear that his fairly recent friendship with Ryan Adams (which may or may not already be over since he did not produce the album as originally expected) has influenced several of the tracks.

Looks like they're still pals:

Ryan Adams ‏@TheRyanAdams 13m
My pal @JasonIsbell just released such an incredible album.
Go have a listen to 'Southeastern' iTunes: https://itun.es/us/nxKBM ”
View album Reply Retweet Favorite More

[lefty]

You can definitely hear that his fairly recent friendship with Ryan Adams (which may or may not already be over since he did not produce the album as originally expected) has influenced several of the tracks.

Looks like they're still pals:

Ryan Adams ‏@TheRyanAdams 13m
My pal @JasonIsbell just released such an incredible album.
Go have a listen to 'Southeastern' iTunes: https://itun.es/us/nxKBM ”
View album Reply Retweet Favorite More

Saw that a second ago. I had read elsewhere that Ryan kinda bailed on him in regard to producing, and it had left Jason a little miffed.

[verb_to_trust]

This is really fantastic. He is keeping it simple. His previous solo efforts/400 unit just didn't sound organic enough to me. The studio version of Dress Blues is a good example of a studio track gone wrong from this guy. None of that is present to my ears.

[solace]

easily his best albums since his debut.

[Gods' Die]

I'm just now getting into DBT and Isbell's songs always stand out. I've downloaded a couple of his records; I love this kind of music.

[given2trade]

This album is great. Thanks for alerting me to it.

[sherpahigh]

Austin City Limits this weekend.

Sneak preview here:

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365143037/

[Blaine Ryan]

"Elephant" is one of the best songs I've heard in a long, long time.

[bune]

Saw this article yesterday and I'd only heard of The Civil Wars and Brad Paisley, I'm going to check the others out this weekend.

http://music-mix.ew.com/2013/12/18/best ... s-of-2013/

Oh yeah, this is in response to those who didn't like his opinion:

[sherpahigh]

Austin City Limits this weekend.

Sneak preview here:

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365143037/

Web Only outtake from tomorrow night's ACL broadcast:

[ritchiem4812]

Damn good album. I've been obsessed with it the last couple of weeks. There is a couple of soundboards shows on bt.etree that are great also.