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| Southeastern 2013 |
553 Miles To Go
Jason Isbell is sober. He's in love and Southeastern is the musical compass of his life's redirection.
It reads reflection, rehabilitation, redemption and the exhilarating fear that comes from reinvention.
At least part of the prize is his recent marriage to knockout fiddle magician Amanda Shires who sings and plays on the collection.
Southeastern's songs tell of love that's white-hot enough to make the boys jealous of his fortune and the girls swoon for his sense of romance.
"Girl, leave your boots by the bed we ain't leaving this room/Till someone needs medical help or the magnolias bloom," Isbell declares on the opening Cover Me Up.
He's just as forward about his sobriety throughout Southeastern both in a serious tone (Different Days, Live Oak) and with a "tell-on-myself" sense of humor in Traveling Alone.
Isbell confesses, "Damn near strangled by my appetite/In Ybor City on a Friday night/Couldn't even stand upright/So high, the street girls wouldn't take my pay/She said come see me on a better day, and she just danced away."
Musically, Southeastern stays mostly in the ballad to mid-tempo range with Flying Over Water and Super 8 the two exceptions. The later is a hilarious update to Lynyrd Skynyrd's Gimme Three Steps tale that gets funnier with each verse and this ending moral to the story: "If I ever get back to Bristol,/I'm better off sleeping in the county jail/I don't wanna die in a Super 8 motel."
While Southeastern rates absolutely all killer and no filler, the two most haunting moments come from Songs That She Sang In The Shower and Elephant. The first brings home the loneliness of being left for too many self-inflicted wounds and haunted by the favorite numbers of a now long gone lover.
Elephant anguishes through the agony of a friend's eventual loss to cancer in a way that leaves a lump in the throat even after knowing the punch line.
Though technically a solo record, the band line-up includes 400 Unit members Derry deBorja on keys and mellotron, as well as drummer Chad Gamble, among others.
At Isbell's June show in Columbus, he and The 400 Unit melded the material from Southeastern perfectly with a set that included most of the tracks from 2012's Live From Alabama.
Live From Alabama is a perfect primer for new fans discovering Isbell from Southeastern and the deserved hype that has followed.
It includes five of his Drive-By Truckers numbers (Decoration Day, Goddamn Lonely Love, Danko/Manuel, Outfit, TVA) and representatives from each of his non-Truckers trips - Sirens Of The Ditch, Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit, and Here We Rest.
At least part of the prize is his recent marriage to knockout fiddle magician Amanda Shires who sings and plays on the collection.
Southeastern's songs tell of love that's white-hot enough to make the boys jealous of his fortune and the girls swoon for his sense of romance.
"Girl, leave your boots by the bed we ain't leaving this room/Till someone needs medical help or the magnolias bloom," Isbell declares on the opening Cover Me Up.
He's just as forward about his sobriety throughout Southeastern both in a serious tone (Different Days, Live Oak) and with a "tell-on-myself" sense of humor in Traveling Alone.
Isbell confesses, "Damn near strangled by my appetite/In Ybor City on a Friday night/Couldn't even stand upright/So high, the street girls wouldn't take my pay/She said come see me on a better day, and she just danced away."
Musically, Southeastern stays mostly in the ballad to mid-tempo range with Flying Over Water and Super 8 the two exceptions. The later is a hilarious update to Lynyrd Skynyrd's Gimme Three Steps tale that gets funnier with each verse and this ending moral to the story: "If I ever get back to Bristol,/I'm better off sleeping in the county jail/I don't wanna die in a Super 8 motel."
While Southeastern rates absolutely all killer and no filler, the two most haunting moments come from Songs That She Sang In The Shower and Elephant. The first brings home the loneliness of being left for too many self-inflicted wounds and haunted by the favorite numbers of a now long gone lover.
Elephant anguishes through the agony of a friend's eventual loss to cancer in a way that leaves a lump in the throat even after knowing the punch line.
Though technically a solo record, the band line-up includes 400 Unit members Derry deBorja on keys and mellotron, as well as drummer Chad Gamble, among others.
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| Live From Alabama 2012 |
Live From Alabama is a perfect primer for new fans discovering Isbell from Southeastern and the deserved hype that has followed.
It includes five of his Drive-By Truckers numbers (Decoration Day, Goddamn Lonely Love, Danko/Manuel, Outfit, TVA) and representatives from each of his non-Truckers trips - Sirens Of The Ditch, Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit, and Here We Rest.
Live From Alabama is topped off by a crunching cover of Neil Young and Crazy Horse's Like A Hurricane.
While Isbell garners most of his accolades as a singer/songwriter, Live From Alabama shows off his guitar chops and the spectacular musical interplay between him and deBorja's keyboards.
At the Columbus show, the audience paid Isbell the greatest compliment of all when they went from raucous and singing to silent for the newer quieter numbers.
This compass says Southeastern is pointed at 2013 record of the year possibilities.
Southeastern Song For The Soundtrack: Super 8
Live From Alabama Song For The Soundtrack: Outfit
Running Data for Wednesday, June 19:
10.37 Miles
1:59:50
Mileage In The Change Jar: 0.82 Miles
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