Iowan wrote:The most exciting Jason show I ever saw was when he was still partying. He didn't come off as too fucked up that night, but I only saw him once in those days. Might have gotten lucky.
He always puts on a good show now, but as someone else here said, I doubt I'll ever see a transcendent one. Especially when I know what songs I'm going to hear when I get there.
The lack of mixing up setlists grates on me - it's old school and not in a good way.
I saw him a couple dozen times between leaving DBT and getting sober and appreciated the different phases there were even then, even enjoying Psycho Killer every once in a while (though mostly getting beer). I liked how Jason and Browan would play off each other. There was a period right after Browan's departure that Jason stepped up and played a lot of guitar and although I missed some of the depth of having a 2nd guitarist, I really like Jason's guitar playing when he's focused on it and so I really appreciated that period even though he was sometimes morose on stage in his interactions with the audience (or lack thereof). And toward the end of the Here We Rest era, I thought the shows were often pretty fun and uplifting - Amanda brought a new energy and everyone seemed to be more upbeat I thought in the shows I saw, and that set of songs lent itself to it. I really enjoyed the last one, the Richmond on high night, even though Jason was drunk and a bit of an asshole on stage, and even though the evening itself ended pretty disastrously. But the show was good, fun, and something I miss even though I wouldn't wish that life back on him for anything especially now that there's a child in the mix. When I saw him open solo acoustic for Ryan Adams in New Zealand right after rehab, only a little over a month later, I could tell it was a new direction and going forward probably wouldn't involve going back. He didn't have his Southeastern songs yet, but he had already changed over to the acoustic singer-songwriter folk-based style that has been his calling card since.
Agreed. To be clear, I'm not pining for Jason to bring chaos back into his life just to have music I like a little more than the music he's been making. That's an insanely selfish idea.
I do, however, think that there's a little bit of a false narrative about the effect of Jason's old lifestyle on his art. I read it in a lot of articles, and I just don't agree with it, especially given my experiences in that time.
I probably saw 25-30 Jason shows between 2007 and 2012 and I never saw a bad one and I never thought being drunk got in the way. That's not to say it didn't get in the way of his life because clearly it did, I just don't personally relate to the narrative that a good number of his shows were a drunken mess. I'm glad he got his life together because that's way more important than music, and I don't blame his music going in a different direction on his sobriety. That's a tired old trope about musicians that get clean and I'm not going there. He found an audience and he plays for that audience. I think it's great even if makes me a little sad that his stuff isn't my bag anymore.
We call him Scooby Do, but Scooby doesn’t do. Scooby, is not involved
Tequila Cowboy wrote:I probably saw 25-30 Jason shows between 2007 and 2012 and I never saw a bad one and I never thought being drunk got in the way. That's not to say it didn't get in the way of his life because clearly it did, I just don't personally relate to the narrative that a good number of his shows were a drunken mess. I'm glad he got his life together because that's way more important than music, and I don't blame his music going in a different direction on his sobriety. That's a tired old trope about musicians that get clean and I'm not going there. He found an audience and he plays for that audience. I think it's great even if makes me a little sad that his stuff isn't my bag anymore.
I tend to agree. Although DBT isn't exactly "sober", they're far less wild than they once were, and have much more stable life situations than 10-15 years ago, and American Band was an incredibly vital record that hit a lot of my tastes. Sturgill Simpson has been relatively sober through his recording career and I love all of his records. I don't think Dwight Yoakam was ever a partier. I could go on. Chaotic lives tend to make great art, but great art doesn't need chaos to exist.
The music Jason makes now has 100x the appeal that he used to and he'd be a fool not to embrace it.
Tequila Cowboy wrote:I probably saw 25-30 Jason shows between 2007 and 2012 and I never saw a bad one and I never thought being drunk got in the way. That's not to say it didn't get in the way of his life because clearly it did, I just don't personally relate to the narrative that a good number of his shows were a drunken mess. I'm glad he got his life together because that's way more important than music, and I don't blame his music going in a different direction on his sobriety. That's a tired old trope about musicians that get clean and I'm not going there. He found an audience and he plays for that audience. I think it's great even if makes me a little sad that his stuff isn't my bag anymore.
Maybe that's a narrative but to be clear it's not mine. Still he seemed depressed to me and acted both morose and sometimes aggressive on stage (not saying much since it's not much different than he acted on twitter at the time) and I did see shows where his drinking got in the way of a better performance (also not saying much as I've seen Patterson pretty drunk and Cooley so whacked he could barely remember what song was playing). It's just part of the scene.
I do think his songwriting has changed in numerous ways probably related to his sobriety. What he sings about, the way he approaches lyrics, The style of music, and the role his guitar playing take are all different. I don't "blame" it on sobriety because I think it's good, it's just different music and I miss some of the old fire that I don't think is a part of it anymore.
Couple of listens in. Another Jason album that just kind of sits there for me. This will be put on the shelf not to be pulled out much. Kind of boring. In my opinion you can barely make a full album assembled from the best tracks off his discography so far. I had such high hopes for his solo career.
There's a good article on Jason in the latest Village Voice. It's called Southern Man and is written by Jonathan Bernstein. I couldn't find a link on the VV site but will type part of it here.
Isbell specializes in songs that merge the plainspoken, detail-oriented observation of John Prine with the literary, character-based approach of Randy Newman. "Last of My Kind," the opener on The Nashville Sound, is the first-person tale of potentially upwardly mobile working-class American struggling to adapt to the rapidly modernizing country he lives in. "I tried to go to college but I didn't belong/Everything I said was either funny or wrong," the narrator explains.
Isbell gravitates toward these sorts of characters because they're a type he knows well, one that he grew up around. "It's that feeling that you don't belong with people that might intimidate you because they're more culturally or socially developed," he says. "It was an adjustment to make for me when I got out in the world. I didn't get on an airplane for the first time until I was twenty-two years old."
Isbell, who grew up in the lower-middle-class town of Green Hill, Alabama, knows that writing about the white working class has taken on a new weight over the past year. As he wrote his most recent record throughout 2016, he came to the dispiriting realization that he no longer recognized or understood the community he grew up in.
"It's hard for me to feel sorry for the type of people who might be considered Trump supporters: Bible Belt, salt-of-the-earth Americans. There was just so much hatred and fear and bigotry that had to be overlooked to put him in that spot that I can't feel sorry for anybody who voted for Donald Trump," he says. "I thought I had an understanding of what rural country folks were like, what everybody in America was like. I was wrong."
On The Nashville Sound, Isbell interrogates white male identity with a newfound scrutiny, most directly on the slow-burning polemic "White Man's World." "Over the last year, I've been seeing all these things that old white men are doing while at the same time realizing that with a little bit of luck, I too will one day be an old white man," he says. "I've been through the addiction and rehabilitation process, so I know not to be guilty of ashamed of something I have no control over. But at the same time, it's really important that people like me remain as aware as possible."
He continues: "We have a job and we have a responsibility. It's like the reason that the Seinfeld gang wound up in jail: We can't just sit back and watch while terrible things continue to happen."
The closer you get to the meaning
The sooner you'll know that you're dreaming
I just watched a clip of him doing "Whippin' Post" in Asheville. There seemed to be plenty of "fire" there as far as Isbell, Amanda and the 400 Unit leaning into it. Perhaps what folks mean is how safe and unchallenging some of his newer material can be. I can't speak to The Nashville Sound as I've heard very little of it.
The Pitchfork review is the first one that really gets to the meat of the matter, there's no there there. Their take on Cumberland Gap is spot on in that they mention that the band sounds great, the vocals are good but the lyrics are strangely lacking. To me what Jason does now is all craft with very little inspiration. It's interesting that they bring up SMTF closing with To A Band That I Loved because that song was one of only a couple on that record that did that. JI is skilled at songwriting of which one aspect is craft, he seems to have forgotten that it isn't the only part.
We call him Scooby Do, but Scooby doesn’t do. Scooby, is not involved
Tequila Cowboy wrote:The Pitchfork review is the first one that really gets to the meat of the matter, there's no there there. Their take on Cumberland Gap is spot on in that they mention that the band sounds great, the vocals are good but the lyrics are strangely lacking. To me what Jason does now is all craft with very little inspiration. It's interesting that they bring up SMTF closing with To A Band That I Loved because that song was one of only a couple on that record that did that. JI is a skilled songwriting which one aspect is craft, he seems to have forgotten that it isn't the only part.
I also agree with the reviewer about Anxiety. My first couple of listens I enjoyed it, but now it sounds like a three minute song idea that is inexplicably six minutes long
And I knew when I woke up Rock N Roll would be here forever
Kudzu Guillotine wrote:Perhaps what folks mean is how safe and unchallenging some of his newer material can be.
Exactly this.
Also the production is very shiny and slick on these last three records, and I tend to prefer the production be a little "rough around the edges" for lack of a better term.
This is my label > http://warhenrecords.bandcamp.com/
Label IG > @WarHenRecords
Heh just read the Pitchfork review and this jumped at me.
“Chaos and Clothes” is equally intimate, capturing a double-tracked solo performance in the vein of Elliott Smith’s late-‘90s work. It stands as one of the album’s only effective experiments: one that makes you hear Isbell’s voice differently and illustrates his growth as a breezy pop songwriter while his grittier work with Drive-By Truckers fades further in the rear view.
This is my label > http://warhenrecords.bandcamp.com/
Label IG > @WarHenRecords
I really like Tupelo, Molotov, Something to Love, Hope the High Road, and Last of My Kind. Anxiety is a drag. Cumberland Gap comes and goes for me. Chaos and Clothes is pretty boring. Vampires is moving lyrically, but I'm not into musically. White Man's World isn't aging that well for me, but the "got the bones of the red man under my feet" line hits me in the guilts every time.
Two and a half spins and I'm done. Not that there aren't moments, or even entire tracks that I like. But there's so much good music in the world I just don't feel like I should have to work so hard to find something worth while in an album.
He's a genericana pop star with a bloated band and slick production. I wish him all the success he can find but I doubt i'll even bother with the next one. It's over, and has been for a while.
*edit for punctuation
Last edited by Beebs on Wed Jun 21, 2017 5:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Beebs wrote:Two and a half spins and I'm done. Not that there aren't moments, or even entire tracks that I like. But there's so much good music in the world I just don't feel like I should have to work so hard to find something worth while in an album.
After first full spin I agree totally
Decoration Meh
Son, this ain't a dream no more, it's the real thing
Smitty wrote:"Chaos and Clothes" sounds like something off Love is Hell, and I think that's intentional.
"Cumberland Gap" sounds vaguely Springsteenish, but nothing at all like DRA; maybe it sounds like DRA what is shooting short of in his Springsteen phase.
Cumberland Gap reminds me of When the Well Runs Dry
Son, this ain't a dream no more, it's the real thing
Beebs wrote:Two and a half spins and I'm done. Not that there aren't moments, or even entire tracks that I like. But there's so much good music in the world I just don't feel like I should have to work so hard to find something worth while in an album.
He's a genericana pop star with a bloated band and slick production. I wish him all the success he can find but I doubt i'll even bother with the next one. It's over, and has been for a while.
*edit for punctuation
Beebs, don't pull punches. How do you really feel?
Beebs wrote:Two and a half spins and I'm done. Not that there aren't moments, or even entire tracks that I like. But there's so much good music in the world I just don't feel like I should have to work so hard to find something worth while in an album.
He's a genericana pop star with a bloated band and slick production. I wish him all the success he can find but I doubt i'll even bother with the next one. It's over, and has been for a while.
*edit for punctuation
Beebs, don't pull punches. How do you really feel?