Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit Photo: supplied
Elliott Childs samples the Nashville sound of Jason Isbell.
Since getting sober in 2012 singer, songwriter and former Drive By Truckers guitarist Jason Isbell has seen his life and career take turn after turn for the better. Bucking the old cliche that an artist’s creative output dwindles with sobriety, his last two efforts, 2013’s Southeastern and 2015’s Something More Than Free, showcased a more nuanced type of songwriting and both received almost universal acclaim. After those career highs, it would be fair to say that expectations are rather high for his latest album, The Nashville Sound.
The Nashville Sound Photo: supplied
The record opens with a country music staple, a song about a country boy feeling out of place in the big city. 'Last Of My Kind' may cover familiar ground but Isbell brings new turns to the story. Perhaps the starkest twist of all is when it’s revealed that the family farm is gone and the small town life he knew is dead - not something you would have heard in versions of the tale told just a few years ago.
'White Man’s World' finds Isbell on more political ground. Over a solid track that would not seem out of place on an album of 70’s protest songs, Isbell laments the racism and sexism that litters America’s past and present. It’s an angry, frustrated song. But whilst he makes a cogent and necessary point, fitting so much broad ranging anger and discrimination into one song seems like a big ask, even for a man with Isbell’s songwriting talent.
'If We Were Vampires' is an unusual song about the end of a marriage, not least because Isbell sings it in duet with his wife, singer/songwriter Amanda Shires. But rather than divorce, this song covers the sad realisation that, regardless of how strong a relationship is, it will come to a close when one of the two dies. Despite it’s somber mood and eerie, distantly reverberating production, it’s a surprisingly touching song made all the more so by Shires’ harmonies.
Whilst there are echoes of the cleaner sound of Isbell’s previous two albums here, there is a hard edge on show too. Tracks like 'Hope The High Road' and 'Cumberland Gap' hark back to the sound of an earlier, pre sobriety Isbell, something that is also reflected in the choice to name his backing band, The 400 Unit, as primary artists which he hasn’t done since 2011.
Though this album tackles some big political issues, Isbell hasn't completely stopped writing introspective songs either. Though in 'Hope The High Road', he says “I’ve sung enough about myself”, and he’s written a few songs here that are clearly fictional narratives, the album still plays into his tendency for self reflection. And it’s that honest examination that made his last two albums so vital. So whilst the political and fictional songs are really well written, it’s in the bare, human moments that this record really shines.
