Jason Isbell on Letterman

[Zip City]

Why is Cooley sitting in with a wedding band?

[rlipps]

let the big dog eat.

Classic pic, another one from Isbell's "Terry Gordy" era

[Zip City]

let the big dog eat.

Classic pic, another one from Isbell's "Terry Gordy" era

Ha ha ha ha ha!

[Duke Silver]

That Tubescreamer looks so sad in the middle of the floor. Their pedal boards have come a long way.

[BiloxiParish]

I really thought he would play Traveling Alone...

And I didn't realize Shires was the front man of the group now and Isbell was playing 2nd Fiddle.

[Smitty]

let the big dog eat.

Classic pic, another one from Isbell's "Terry Gordy" era

On my flight back from Great Lakes after my Navy debacle, I sat next to Michael P.S. Hayes. He was listening to the Allman Brothers and I'm pretty sure I told him about DBT.

[jr29]

let the big dog eat.

Classic pic, another one from Isbell's "Terry Gordy" era

HAHAHAHA, Terry Gordy. I haven't thought about that guy in 15 years. My loss.

[gepman]

This picture should be burned!

Is that Cooley rocking pin stripes???

[lotusamerica]

I really thought he would play Traveling Alone...

And I didn't realize Shires was the front man of the group now and Isbell was playing 2nd Fiddle.

I think of Traveling Alone as a paler version of Stockholm. Thought he looked and sounded good.

['Scratch]

[quote="Smitty". DBT examples would be "Marry Me" (which is so bad ass it gets a pass) .....[/quote]

Gotta take issue with this one. Marry Me is a GREAT song, especially the recorded version on Decoration Day. It's a great story, Cooley's vocals are raw and intense and the guitars just rip the hell out of that song. One of my long term favorites. (goes and sits down)

[Smitty]

[quote="Smitty". DBT examples would be "Marry Me" (which is so bad ass it gets a pass) .....

Gotta take issue with this one. Marry Me is a GREAT song, especially the recorded version on Decoration Day. It's a great story, Cooley's vocals are raw and intense and the guitars just rip the hell out of that song. One of my long term favorites. (goes and sits down)[/quote]

I agree, but you can't pretend it doesn't sound like "Already Gone".

[BostonREB]

let the big dog eat.

Classic pic, another one from Isbell's "Terry Gordy" era

Damn that's awesome. Jason "Bam Bam" Isbell has got it going on. He looks like the fat kid from The Goonies all growed up and going to prom.

I can totally see Michael Hayes digging DBT.

['Scratch]

[quote="Smitty". DBT examples would be "Marry Me" (which is so bad ass it gets a pass) .....

Gotta take issue with this one. Marry Me is a GREAT song, especially the recorded version on Decoration Day. It's a great story, Cooley's vocals are raw and intense and the guitars just rip the hell out of that song. One of my long term favorites. (goes and sits down)

I agree, but you can't pretend it doesn't sound like "Already Gone".[/quote]

No doubt about that. Also, you said "bad ass". For some reason I only read that "bad" part. Hitting on all cylinders over here.

[Iowan]

I don't really get the Super 8/Another Like You thing.

To me, both songs exemplify very simple, classic melodies. Its kind of like saying because two blues songs have the same melody (and many do) that one is a rip-off of another.

[Smitty]

I don't really get the Super 8/Another Like You thing.

To me, both songs exemplify very simple, classic melodies. Its kind of like saying because two blues songs have the same melody (and many do) that one is a rip-off of another.

I'm no expert in musical terms, but the verses on ALY are pretty unique (the melody/cadence, whatever you call it) and while the rhyme scheme isn't the same, melodically it's exactly the same, even moreso than the Razor Town/Home incident. In fact, it's no big deal as it is but it wouldn't bother me at all if he hadn't made such a stink about Dierks.


Having such a sweet night audience was just right
drinking like a pirate do
Don’t wanna sleep yet buddy, it’s a good bet,
I’ll raise more hell than you
Do a couple rails and chase your own tail
and talk about the bad ole days
Tremor in a tee shirt telling me her heart hurt honey,
let me count the ways


You were smoking on a cigarette, Talking about the deficit
Putting all them wild boys down
A-like a drunken Mona Lisa or the Leanin' Tower of Pisa
You were hanging off the edge of town
I overheard Afghanistan is safer than a minivan
Left me wonderin' what I should do
Ah, you're like a four leaf clover, I just had to come on over
I've never seen a woman like you

[Iowan]

I'm not saying they don't sound alike, I'm saying their written in a style where there have been a lot of songs that sounded alike.

I just feel like I've heard a lot of songs that sound similar to both.

[Zip City]

It's a little dishonest to say that Carll invented that particular melody/rhyme scheme

[Smitty]

I'm not saying it's never been done before (what hasn't?), but it's not your common melody/rhyme scheme/whatchacallit. I'm basing it on nothing other than I can't think of another song off the top of my head that uses that particular whatchacallit, atleast not as blatantly similar as those two. I see no difference in this and the Dierks incident, other than that involved lawyers and this just a couple guys' opinions on a message board.

[Smitty]

It's a little dishonest to say that Carll invented that particular melody/rhyme scheme

Maybe ignorant, but not dishonest.

[Smitty]

For the record, I could care less - I'm no musician, but I do know from just mentally trying to come up with a unique or new melody is damn near impossible. Rock n' roll/country songcraft both have their limitations. I just found it kindof ironic after the Dierks incident.

"Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal" - Stravinsky (?)

[Kudzu Guillotine]

For the record, I could care less - I'm no musician, but I do know from just mentally trying to come up with a unique or new melody is damn near impossible. Rock n' roll/country songcraft both have their limitations. I just found it kindof ironic after the Dierks incident.

"Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal" - Stravinsky (?)

Maybe it's just the anonymous message board/website/YouTube commenting mentality that permeates the web these days but there seems to be a whole lot of people out there that will never be able to forgive Led Zeppelin for blatantly lifting from other artists whether it be Howlin' Wolf, Anne Bredon, Jake Holmes, Spirit, etc. I don't know what it is they're supposed to do to compensate for having done that but it's also obviously not something that's keeping them up at night. All I know is that by lifting from those artists and placing their own unique stamp on those songs, they created a style of music that's been a blueprint for countless other musicians. That doesn't excuse them for thievery but what's done is done and it has never caused me to cast Zeppelin in an unfavorable light. For some, it's a stumbling block that they'll never be able to see past. That sort of thievery has been going on in music for time immortal and will continue to occur for eternity. If another artist feels like they've been plagiarized, I guess it just boils down to how much trouble they want to go to from a legal standpoint to be compensated. To that end, I'm guessing the Eagles have never heard "Marry Me".

[lotusamerica]

I don't really get the Super 8/Another Like You thing.

To me, both songs exemplify very simple, classic melodies. Its kind of like saying because two blues songs have the same melody (and many do) that one is a rip-off of another.

I'm no expert in musical terms, but the verses on ALY are pretty unique (the melody/cadence, whatever you call it) and while the rhyme scheme isn't the same, melodically it's exactly the same, even moreso than the Razor Town/Home incident. In fact, it's no big deal as it is but it wouldn't bother me at all if he hadn't made such a stink about Dierks.


Having such a sweet night audience was just right
drinking like a pirate do
Don’t wanna sleep yet buddy, it’s a good bet,
I’ll raise more hell than you
Do a couple rails and chase your own tail
and talk about the bad ole days
Tremor in a tee shirt telling me her heart hurt honey,
let me count the ways


You were smoking on a cigarette, Talking about the deficit
Putting all them wild boys down
A-like a drunken Mona Lisa or the Leanin' Tower of Pisa
You were hanging off the edge of town
I overheard Afghanistan is safer than a minivan
Left me wonderin' what I should do
Ah, you're like a four leaf clover, I just had to come on over
I've never seen a woman like you

They sure seem similar to me, and Carll opened for Jason while touring this record, so it might've seeped in.

[lotusamerica]

For the record, I could care less - I'm no musician, but I do know from just mentally trying to come up with a unique or new melody is damn near impossible. Rock n' roll/country songcraft both have their limitations. I just found it kindof ironic after the Dierks incident.

"Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal" - Stravinsky (?)

Maybe it's just the anonymous message board/website/YouTube commenting mentality that permeates the web these days but there seems to be a whole lot of people out there that will never be able to forgive Led Zeppelin for blatantly lifting from other artists whether it be Howlin' Wolf, Anne Bredon, Jake Holmes, Spirit, etc. I don't know what it is they're supposed to do to compensate for having done that but it's also obviously not something that's keeping them up at night. All I know is that by lifting from those artists and placing their own unique stamp on those songs, they created a style of music that's been a blueprint for countless other musicians. That doesn't excuse them for thievery but what's done is done and it has never caused me to cast Zeppelin in an unfavorable light. For some, it's a stumbling block that they'll never be able to see past. That sort of thievery has been going on in music for time immortal and will continue to occur for eternity. If another artist feels like they've been plagiarized, I guess it just boils down to how much trouble they want to go to from a legal standpoint to be compensated. To that end, I'm guessing the Eagles have never heard "Marry Me".

Louie Louie is More Than a Feeling is Smells Like Teen Spirit. It happens sometimes. Just please when you borrow add something new and make it interesting again. And if you take it wholesale just give credit and royalties where due...

[bovine knievel]

For the record, I could care less - I'm no musician, but I do know from just mentally trying to come up with a unique or new melody is damn near impossible. Rock n' roll/country songcraft both have their limitations. I just found it kindof ironic after the Dierks incident.

"Lesser artists borrow; great artists steal" - Stravinsky (?)

Bobby Bare Jr sums it up nicely.

This letter is addressed to Mr. Pete Towsend
Hey Brother I write you to say thanks for nothin'
Your generation used up all the feelings
And if we rock it looks like were ripping you off

Hey Mr. Jimmy as I write upon this Paige
My hands they shake with a delicate rage
My amplifier has no aim for all it plays sounds derivative and mundane

Dig down, dig down the lost and found
The beetles used up all there was to be found
Dig down. Dig down the lost and found
Nothing green can gather on a rolling stone
Dig down - Dig on down

To whom it may concern for all Hendrix hath spurned
The rockets red glare the bombs bursting in air
My fender is just a painted board
And if I light it on fire I become such a fucking bore

Black Francis, Black Francis you are the last motherfucker out
Grabbing all the good stuff, leaving no doubt
That if rock and roll dies its not my fault
I do the best with the left overs that I got

Dig down, dig down the lost and found
The beetles used up all there was to be found
Dig down. Dig down the lost and found
Nothing green can gather on a rolling stone
Dig down - Dig on down

All of the juice has been sucked out
Before Mel Bay asked us children to play
So as we climb upon this rotting corpse
Stick it in once again, see if the blood will coarse

Chuck Berry, Chuck Berry you wrote the only original song
Some white boys stole it we all still sing along
Chuck Berry sing to us one more time
Before Fred Bisquit freezes everybody's mind

[cortez the killer]

Great song, but who are The Beetles?

[Iowan]

I'm not saying it's never been done before (what hasn't?), but it's not your common melody/rhyme scheme/whatchacallit. I'm basing it on nothing other than I can't think of another song off the top of my head that uses that particular whatchacallit, atleast not as blatantly similar as those two. I see no difference in this and the Dierks incident, other than that involved lawyers and this just a couple guys' opinions on a message board.

This is the difference to me:

The melody on Razor Town is a more unique one than the melody on Another Like You. At least to my ears. When I first heard Another Like You, it sounded familiar in a standard country/blues type of cadence, or whatever (I too am no expert). Again, just to my ears. When I first Razor Town, there was nothing I could think of that it sounded specifically like.

I agree that its silly on Jason's part to get so bent out of shape over the Dierks when he has melodies that aren't that original himself (Codeine definitely has some similarities to Wagon Wheel, and Super 8 is a standard cadence/melody/whatever), but I don't think what happened between Another Like You and Super 8 is on the same level as Razor Town and Home.

[Kudzu Guillotine]