Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free 7/17

[Zip City]

Definitely a fun song live

Definitely out of place on Southeastern

[Iowan]

I'm an unabashed Super 8 fan. Much like another Jason rocker, Good, it is far better than given credit for.

[Duke Silver]

I'm going to stop spouting off about new music until I've given it at least half a dozen listens. Really, really digging SMTF now.

(How to Forget still sucks. As does Super 8.)

[lotusamerica]

I'm going to stop spouting off about new music until I've given it at least half a dozen listens. Really, really digging SMTF now.

(How to Forget still sucks. As does Super 8.)

How's the vinyl? Much different sound quality? Local store had cd for 8, vinyl for 30, went with CD.

And it's maybe important to keep ahold of one song you hate. Leaves room to grow into it... hahaha

[Duke Silver]

I'm going to stop spouting off about new music until I've given it at least half a dozen listens. Really, really digging SMTF now.

(How to Forget still sucks. As does Super 8.)

How's the vinyl? Much different sound quality? Local store had cd for 8, vinyl for 30, went with CD.

And it's maybe important to keep ahold of one song you hate. Leaves room to grow into it... hahaha

I think hearing it on vinyl was part of what made it click. The production is deceptively rich and warm. Sneaks up on you. I balked at the $30 price tag, but I'm a completist. Wouldn't be able to sleep at night having part of his catalog on CD, part on vinyl.

[Duke Silver]

Anyone else hear a little bit of Moreland's "Nobody Gives a Damn..." in Speed Trap Town's verses?

[lotusamerica]

Insightful review with Jason's help in Paste Magazine, focused on why he had to make this album and some songwriting process details. Link below. Contains this nod as well:

“These topics are underserved because they don’t make as much money,” Isbell suggests. “The labels steer artists away from those subjects, because they’re dark and not as consumable as something you can put on when you’re having a party in the backyard.

“But I want to make art, and I think that’s because I saw Patterson Hood make that decision and never back away from it. That made a big impression when I was 22 and 23. I decided I wanted to do the same thing. I think the ultimate goal is to see through another person’s eyes. When you know for a moment what it’s like to be another human being, I’ve never experienced anything more beautiful than that.”

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2 ... ional.html

[ramonz]

“But I want to make art, and I think that’s because I saw Patterson Hood make that decision and never back away from it.”

That made my day, in a weird way.

[adiantumpedatum]

That's a great interview, thanks for sharing. I love that Jason's able to open himself up enough to say things like that last line there.

Duke, glad the album's starting to stick for you. I haven't heard the vinyl yet myself, but your comment makes me know I have something to look forward to.

Does anyone else think the woman he's singing to in Life you Chose could be the same woman as We've Met?

[Bantam]

I waited until the album came out, and I've listened to the whole thing for about a week--roughly 15-20 times, I'd guess. I really like the album. I can't ever imagine liking it more than Southeastern or Sirens, but I definitely like it more than Here We Rest, and it's way more evenly good than 400 Unit, even though it doesn't have highs approaching the best songs there ("Island," "Streetlights," "Blue"). (Side note: lyrics matter a lot to me, which I why I'm puzzled why I like "The Blue" so much--it doesn't seem to mean anything coherent, but the sound of it gives such an impression of feeling. It had to grow on me, but grow it has. "24 Frames" has this quality a bit too, but the lyrics are better and the instrumentation not as fine.) One thing I didn't like about Here We Rest is that, besides some weak songwriting (not a fan of "Go It Alone," "We've Met," or "Save It for Sunday") is that the locals were so low in the mix, it was really hard to hear what he's saying. I got that feeling again on the end of "Palmetto Rose," which is one of the finest musical moments on the album I think.

As for the issue of authenticity vs. art, I feel like a few words from Chuck Klosterman's essay "Toby or Moby" from Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs might help illuminate the problem a bit--especially the title track to SMTF. He's generalizing here, but I think y'all see the point:

...the best alt country songs feel authentic, and that should be enough (and in the idiom of pop music, it usually is). the problem is that guys like [Jay] Farrar embrace a reality that's archaic and undesirable; the only listeners who appreciate what they're expressing are affluent intellectuals who've glamorized the alien concept of poverty. The lyrics on a track like "Screen Door" off No Depression have the texture of something old and profound, but they're not; technically, those lyrics are more modern than everything off Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine And more important, they're only viewed to be profound by people who've never had the experience described in the lyrics. Truly depressed people don't need depressing music. I don't think I would have had any interest in hearing lines like, "Down here, where we're at/ Everybody is equally poor" when I was sixteen, sitting in my parents' basement in rural North Dakota, only vaguely aware that I (and everyone I knew) have no f---ing money. I probably would have thought Jeff Tweedy was whining. Oddly (or perhaps predictably), I love that song today.

I mean, I'm not saying poor country people can't appreciate art; that's an ignorant and dehumanizing statement to make. What I am saying is, I spent a lot of time over the past four years teaching kids in rural high schools, and I can't tell you Brantley Gilbert or rap music or Alabama and George Strait is going to go over better than "I don't think on why I'm here or where it hurts; I'm just lucky to have the work"...if I had to guess.

[adiantumpedatum]

As for the issue of authenticity vs. art, I feel like a few words from Chuck Klosterman's essay "Toby or Moby" from Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs might help illuminate the problem a bit--especially the title track to SMTF. He's generalizing here, but I think y'all see the point:

Truly depressed people don't need depressing music. I don't think I would have had any interest in hearing lines like, "Down here, where we're at/ Everybody is equally poor" when I was sixteen, sitting in my parents' basement in rural North Dakota, only vaguely aware that I (and everyone I knew) have no f---ing money. I probably would have thought Jeff Tweedy was whining. Oddly (or perhaps predictably), I love that song today.

I mean, I'm not saying poor country people can't appreciate art; that's an ignorant and dehumanizing statement to make. What I am saying is, I spent a lot of time over the past four years teaching kids in rural high schools, and I can't tell you Brantley Gilbert or rap music or Alabama and George Strait is going to go over better than "I don't think on why I'm here or where it hurts; I'm just lucky to have the work"...if I had to guess.

That's an interesting point to make, and I like that you're making it. I agree with what the author of that essay has to say, to a point-- there is something slightly inauthentic about artists who've come from comfortable backgrounds singing working class songs. I get that. But I absolutely don't agree that "truly depressed people don't need depressing music." The tradition of depressing music-- the blues-- came from the most economically depressed people there maybe ever were in this country. I think the blues caught on, and continues to be popular, because hearing and singing the blues can be soothing. It can be a release. Most of Jason's and DBT's oeuvre counts as "blues," from Streetlights to Lookout Mountain, and I can't speak for anyone but myself, but these songs make me feel understood in a way that happy stuff just doesn't.

Of course, that being said, there are many many many very economically depressed people being force-fed (and happily consuming) HAPPY songs about girl's asses, cheap bear, party boats, and trucks. There's nothing to make you think in any of those songs, and nothing to comfort you if you're feeling down and out. Why is it popular? Who knows. There sure is a lot of money behind it.

This might be a stretch, but at times I wonder if the whole "corporate country" phenomenon is a political ploy just to keep poor, rural whites where they're at, and to keep them from thinking too much. Y'know, like Dylan said, "The poor white remains at the caboose of the train, but it's not him to blame, he's only a pawn in their game..." Lotta corporations and political campaigns out there benefit from people not thinking too much...

[Tequila Cowboy]

I absolutely don't agree that "truly depressed people don't need depressing music." The tradition of depressing music-- the blues-- came from the most economically depressed people there maybe ever were in this country. I think the blues caught on, and continues to be popular, because hearing and singing the blues can be soothing. It can be a release. Most of Jason's and DBT's oeuvre counts as "blues," from Streetlights to Lookout Mountain, and I can't speak for anyone but myself, but these songs make me feel understood in a way that happy stuff just doesn't.

Bravo! This is spot on and anyone that knows anything about the blues knows it. I like Klosterman but I'm not sure where he was coming from here. Nobody wants to wallow in sad bastard music all the time, depressed or not, but the fact that you can release these feeling in song is extremely important. I know that Jason has always a bit bemused by that going all the way back to his DBT days where he talks in the The Secret to a Happy Ending about people wanting to hear these sad songs going so far to ask them to "play that one about the depression again". I've always felt that he personally finds it counterintuitive but it's what he does so he rolls with it. Of course in direct counterpoint to the blues is that those same African-Americans who played it, wrote it and sang it also sang Gospel songs on Sunday with an equal fervor. Of course I'm mixing philosophies but that's the Yin and Yang that makes the world go around.

[adiantumpedatum]

Well, thanks! It's all about "misery loves company," isn't it?

Of course in direct counterpoint to the blues is that those same African-Americans who played it, wrote it and sang it also sang Gospel songs on Sunday with an equal fervor. Of course I'm mixing philosophies but that's the Yin and Yang that makes the world go around.

Agreed. But there are some real dire-ass gospel songs, even though they all end in salvation. Amazing Grace, and my personal favorite Uncloudy Day.

Huh. I hadn't thought about it, but really there isn't a whole lotta difference between what those gospel songs are saying and what Jason's characters are trying to say in IITAL and SMTF. Gives it a whole new context.

[njMark]

After a little more listening I've found a few that I really like, Hudson Comodore, CofC, 24F, its growing on me.

[phungi]

spent 6 hours in a car yesterday, and in prepping phungal for the upcoming show this week in Philly, we listened to a lot of Jason.

since his songs do not get "song of the week" discussion threads, I have a few questions and wondering if there is any 3DD insight to be shared:

1. On "How To Forget", what exactly is the lesson that the narrator previously learned and is now hoping to unlearn?
2. "Children Of Children" appears to be a conversation between a man/woman/parents looking back, but the line "half full generations living all these expectations giving way to one late to have a baby on the way" has me confused... what is the context of "late"?
3. In "Speed Trap Town", the line "It's a boy's last dream and a man's first loss" is pretty poignant, and fits the song very well. However, it follows "Well it's a Thursday night but there's a high school game, sneak a bottle up the bleachers and forget my name, these 5A bastards run a shallow cross" suggesting that a football player got nailed doing a crossing-route. In this context, the boy's last dream/man's first loss has more than one meaning.
4. This may be quite obvious, and similar to DBT's "Til He's Dead Or Rising" but in Hudson Commodore, given that "Sarah went to try out all the sins" is it safe to assume that "riding" in a Delahaye/Hudson meant more that cruising around the block.

Have really grown to love many of the songs on the album, lyrically, but really like the melodies and arrangements as well.

[lotusamerica]

Couple comments from a cell phone....

Jason's working class songs are technically inauthentic. He imagines characters and tries to present their perspective, something he learned from Patterson, many of whose songs are inauthentic as well. Both also write themselves into the characters to different degrees in different songs, or use character externals to share some of their own internals.

For the most part, the career Jason is building doesn't seem to be about reflecting working class songs to working class people. Jason's fan base is middle class suburban, upper-middle class urban, and some middle class older small town rural who appreciate an older style of country and folk music not so twangy and not so self-consciously retro. And as much as his subject matter, it's the lyriciam and unchallenging musical presentation with songs that are heart touching ,or when not, have enough hooks and grabs to engage listeners and carry through until the next confessional style song that people love to sing out loud.

So I don't think he's particularly trying to sing to listeners in Alabama or Nebraska. He seems more to be trying to share some of the experiences those listeners have with the Nashville crowd in a way that allows him to be successful in the industry while not being of the industry or subject to its many whims. To find that sweet spot, he's voluntarily drawing within certain lines musically and lyrically. I think that's part of these being solo albums and shows, and at some point he'll either break out the 400 Unit brand in a pointed way, or do something considered to be a side -project in order to play some more music outside of the universe he's creating with his solo brand.

[lotusamerica]

Phungi, too much hassle to quite on a phone.....

Here's my take:

1) painful lessons that make you want to drink. Betrayal, abandonment, loss, criticism and self-criticism. Maybe even temptations. Things that leave you unsettled, ungrounded.

2) five full generations living. He's from a long line of people raising their kids before they have their own lives sorted out or know who they are. He's singing directly to his wife who also is from young parents. He's breaking the mold by being in his thirties instead of teens and maybe pondering how he wants to parent differently or what different expeditions he hold for himself having a baby relatively late in life by his family's standards.

3) say more about the shallow cross double meaning....

4) is Sarah the protagonist or her daughter?

[Zip City]

Album sold 41,000 copies in its first week

[one belt loop]

I heard a portion of Jason's interview with Elizabeth Cook on her Outlaw Country show this week. I think some of your questions would get answered if you could track it down.


As far as sins go, I really rarely get angry.

[Bantam]

since his songs do not get "song of the week" discussion threads, I have a few questions and wondering if there is any 3DD insight to be shared

Is there a rule against this, or does somebody just need to bother?

1. On "How To Forget", what exactly is the lesson that the narrator previously learned and is now hoping to unlearn?

My interpretation is that he doesn't really want to unlearn the lesson in that he wants to engage in that sort of immature behavior again. He just feels secure in the knowledge that's he not going to do it again, but the memory is painful, embarassing, and scary. He's probably thought of doing that dumb stuff as a lesson he had to learn, to get to be a person, for so long that' s just how he thinks of it. You know how sometimes people say that some people want to be rich/smart/successful without doing the work? Well, if they do accomplish that, they look back at those experiences with pride, even if they don't necessarily want to repeat that. But to accomplish maturity, you have to look back at the "work" of getting to it (not the actual self-reflection, but the "lessons") with shame/regret/embarassment. But just like with rich/successful people, he's not "sorry" about it. That's what I think he's saying, anyway.

4. This may be quite obvious, and similar to DBT's "Til He's Dead Or Rising" but in Hudson Commodore, given that "Sarah went to try out all the sins" is it safe to assume that "riding" in a Delahaye/Hudson meant more that cruising around the block.

As to lotusamerica's question, I'd thought the whole time Sarah was one of the narrator's children, like Tommy the engineer. It's sort of an interesting thought, but I don't think Sarah is the protagonist. But the line about drinking bourbon to defeat her desires kind of makes me think that. Why was the protagonist a single mom? No mention of a husband. Was her independent streak also mean that she was, uh, sexually liberated? Why, and in what way, were the doctor and lawyer trying to take her under their wing?

Anyway, I don't think she wanted to have sex in a fancy car, if I'm understanding your question right. She doesn't want a rich man--she doesn't want one at all, if the price of their help comes with control. All that's not to say that she didn't want her life to be easier--fancy cars & freedom from worry--but only if she could achieve those things on her own terms, which I think shows the price of her rejecting the previous help from professional men, the government, and father even more.

[Tequila Cowboy]

No rule against Song of the Week threads for Jason. I think it would be fun if someone wants to take charge.

[adiantumpedatum]

spent 6 hours in a car yesterday, and in prepping phungal for the upcoming show this week in Philly, we listened to a lot of Jason.

since his songs do not get "song of the week" discussion threads, I have a few questions and wondering if there is any 3DD insight to be shared:

1. On "How To Forget", what exactly is the lesson that the narrator previously learned and is now hoping to unlearn?
2. "Children Of Children" appears to be a conversation between a man/woman/parents looking back, but the line "half full generations living all these expectations giving way to one late to have a baby on the way" has me confused... what is the context of "late"?
3. In "Speed Trap Town", the line "It's a boy's last dream and a man's first loss" is pretty poignant, and fits the song very well. However, it follows "Well it's a Thursday night but there's a high school game, sneak a bottle up the bleachers and forget my name, these 5A bastards run a shallow cross" suggesting that a football player got nailed doing a crossing-route. In this context, the boy's last dream/man's first loss has more than one meaning.
4. This may be quite obvious, and similar to DBT's "Til He's Dead Or Rising" but in Hudson Commodore, given that "Sarah went to try out all the sins" is it safe to assume that "riding" in a Delahaye/Hudson meant more that cruising around the block.

Have really grown to love many of the songs on the album, lyrically, but really like the melodies and arrangements as well.

1. My first take on this one was the "lesson to unlearn" was a lesson of trust, or rather mistrust. Jason's been though lots of relationships, and over the course of those relationships I get the impression that he learned to be slower to trust, learned to lower his expectations out of necessity. For self-preservation. It ties directly into that killer line from Songs that she Sang, "Experience robs me of hope that she'll ever return." That, to me, is what the narrator here wants to unlearn.

2. What Lotus said-- he's 36 and about to have a kid, that's "late" by his family's standards. I think that's also what he means by "didn't mean to break the cycle"-- the cycle of teen parenthood. Also, the part about "At 17 I went by Michael"-- that's his dad's name, I take that to mean that growing up in a family like that you've got the expectation of living up to your mom's/dad's name on you from the start, even if their name isn't your own. Damn tight spot to try to fit into.

3. Forget who, but someone nailed the whole football thing last week, talking about how growing up in these tiny football towns, everyone dreamed of winning, advancing, making it to state, but without the manpower to make it happen and the well-paid coaches to teach complicated plays, it was all for nothing. Every boy wants the dream, and every young man gets their heart broken.

4. I didn't get sexual liberation as the object of the narrator's desires in HC. I've always understood Sarah to be the narrator's daughter. I think Bantam nailed the analysis here-- this narrator is just plain unwilling to settle for the limitations placed on a woman of her time and place. That's why those dudes "tried" to take her underneath their wing-- she wasn't about to settle for being under ANYbody's wing.

I like this narrator a whole lot. I guess that goes without saying.

So, TC, no rule against Song of the Week threads in "Former Band Members" country, eh? Well then. I was just thinking this SMTF thread was getting crazy unwieldy, and breaking it down into a track a week would be one solution.... Just sayin.

Related: Listening to this right now: http://www.npr.org/event/music/42650556 ... t=20150726 and it's blowing my mind. They start with Palmetto Rose. MAN does that song rock live.

[Tequila Cowboy]

If anyone wants to run the song of the week I would check with Clams on how to get it started as he was a scheduling master with the DBT track of the week thing. As I have proven time and time again those things are not my forte.

[adiantumpedatum]

On it!

[Duke Silver]

#1 Rock Album (lol), #2 Country Album, #4 Overall. Not too shabby. (Per Jason's Twitter.)

[brstigerfan]

#1 Rock Album (lol), #2 Country Album, #4 Overall. Not too shabby. (Per Jason's Twitter.)

I saw that too, and it is quite impressive. I wonder what charts he is referencing though. It's not Billboard.

[phungi]

#1 Rock Album (lol), #2 Country Album, #4 Overall. Not too shabby. (Per Jason's Twitter.)

I saw that too, and it is quite impressive. I wonder what charts he is referencing though. It's not Billboard.

nor it is iTunes download charts...

[armPitt]

#1 Rock Album (lol), #2 Country Album, #4 Overall. Not too shabby. (Per Jason's Twitter.)

I saw that too, and it is quite impressive. I wonder what charts he is referencing though. It's not Billboard.

nor it is iTunes download charts...

Check the new Billboard charts tomorrow when they are posted online.

[Bill in CT]

[Smitty]

Starting to warm up a little to it. Really like t video; my dad called yesterday to tell me he saw it on CMT.