I can’t recall where I first heard Jason Isbell. It may have been during long and lonely drives from West Point Georgia back to home in central Kentucky. It may even have been after I moved back to the NW. There was always a Drive By Truckers song or two that I had on my playlist for long road trips. But I was always driving. I could hear the sound, but never could place the name.
And then, I saw him on AXS tv. I think I had just come home from a gig. Ann was already in bed and I needed to unwind. I sat down and flipped through the channels… and there was that sound.
A good mix of Southern Baptist (if there is such a thing?) 1st, 2nd and 4th stanza song writing. I had gotten pretty familiar with during my time in the just South. And just enough bar brawler to let you know he meant business, just on the other side of that glass screen.
Honestly, he looked like a kid. Greaser hair style, biker rings, playing a slide guitar and singing of drinking and pain. Real pain. And internal stuff. Stuff that doesn’t make sense, but we do it, and don’t know why, and can’t explain it. He was playing at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, during what looked like a late afternoon set. I saw the banner and alost scrolled the channel past… And then he sang…
And I loved it.
I ate up everything I could find of his work. Just when I thought I hand found and gone through all the Isbell I could find… He released Southeastern.
With the exception of “Super 8″, there was no song like ”We’re never gonna change” on this album (Still love that song). But there was so, so much more.
Every song, and I mean EVERY song spoke to me in some way. Lyrically, thematically, (I’m not afraid to say it) emotionally, heavy, but all in a good way.
”Cover me”,”Stockholm”, “Traveling alone”, “Flying over water”…. There isn’t one song that I didn’t pick up the guitar and try to play and sing with his feeling. But, it was a poor shadow. A pale reflection. It wasn’t my song.
These are personal. And by listening, you get to share a very personal view into Isbell’s life – his past, and current struggles. It’s good stuff.
If you don’t listen to the whole album, I dare you to listen to “Elephant“. A song so uncomfortable, and so familiar, it’s brilliant. It’s one of those songs that, as an aspiring songwriter, you hear it and are either inspired to write, or to quit because you’ll never be that good.
…I haven’t quit yet.
I feel that Isbell’s type of transparency that helped me write “Home” on the Jack FoolerY album. Yep, it falls short. Different style, etc. However, good writers, like Isbell, remind us that we all have something to write about.
So that’s it. Day 10 of abums that influenced me. I know it’s a bit of a trip. Different styles, decades, reasons. But that’s what I’ve been on. A journey. I’m still traveling.
Oh, I have a road trip tomorrow….I’ll give you one guess who is on the playlist…
Play with passion, sing with heart
