Sad songs inspire IsbellJANE ROCCA, The West Australian
April 30, 2010, 12:00 pm
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Former Drive-By Truckers frontman Jason Isbell needs to feel sadness and pain in order to write country music. His second solo album and first with his new band, the 400 Unit, is steeped in Southern blues self-analysis.
The 31-year-old musician from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, left the Drive-By Truckers three years ago and hasn't looked back.
"I normally find I work best if I am making all of the decisions or making none of the decisions," Isbell says matter-of-factly.
"Anything in between is difficult. I don't do well writing with other people. It worked for a while when I was with the Truckers but I didn't fit in comfortably with that and left. I am a sideman or a frontman."
As a frontman, Isbell is everything you want in a country singer. His southern drawl, honest lyrics and solid persona all come through on Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit's self-titled release of last year. Isbell released his solo debut Sirens of the Ditch in 2007.
"It is difficult to write a song when you're happy. I might still feel like playing songs when I'm happy but I don't necessarily want to write," he says.
Cigarettes and Wine is the most revealing on the new album - a song inspired by a fling with a barmaid He candidly sings about how money, liquor and lust took on his heart and his trust.
Then there's the Seven-Mile Island, a story about a man who has failed as a father. "Where I come from and grew up in the Shoals area is where southern and blues and country music is from. A lot of that music is full of guilt, failure and sadness. It is easier to focus on that than it is to write about success and accomplishments," he says.
"Country music is whiny and I like that. I am hoping I don't lose whatever edge I have lyrically because I know a lot of writers who get older, settle and start a family and stop screwing things up and start writing horrible songs."
The Muscle Shoals area of Alabama is known for spawning some of the best country and gospel music in history. It is where Sun Records studio owner Sam Phillips lived and where Aretha Franklin recorded at the prestigious Fame Recording Studios, where Isbell made his latest album.
"I didn't realise until I was 15 or 16 about the quality of the music made there," he says. "I saw people who had been involved in music for 40 years and it was inspiring. It shaped who I am now because I saw how possible it was to function as a musician and not f… things up
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