Jason Isbell is, it goes without saying, one of the shining lights of Americana – if someone wants to know what Americana is then you point at the totality of his musical output and just say “that“. There’s the reinvention of Southern Rock by The Drive-By Truckers, there’s his own take on rock with the 400 Unit and there’s his solo albums with their own more acoustic rock vibe which leans into a “classic” rock singer-songwriter style. Oh, and being on occasion Justin Townes Earle’s lead guitarist, and supporting Jerry Joseph, and…so much more. Simply – Jason Isbell has become one of the keystones of the Americana music movement.
Tonight would be a solo performance and on the big stage at The Barbican there was just a chair, two mikes and a stand for Isbell’s water. It’s the classic “story and song” setup, where an artist intersperses music with anecdotes – only Isbell knows what people really want, and it’s the music. His life is already well documented – the ups, the downs, the ups again and he only alluded to any of that briefly and instead was looking more to the future and his upcoming solo album, “Foxes in the Snow” which is released on March 7th and mentioning that he’d be returning “soon” with a full band.
What this format did do is make the lyrics of the songs stand out in sharp detail – there’s no hiding, no obscurification, just one guitar and one voice. David Crosby said a lot of nice things about Jason Isbell including: “Jason has become one of the best writers in the country, and my idea of really good writers is Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan. His singing is emotional. It’s honest. He’s really trying to tell you the story.” And that was what an evening like this one was about, although Crosby could perhaps have also name checked Springsteen and Young as well.
Starting with the first single from the new album, ‘Bury Me‘ turns the tables on ‘Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie‘ by claiming that it’s all one to him: “bury me right where I fall / Tokyo to Tennessee / I loved them all.” There are glimmers of the biographical with references to past bad behaviour “I ain’t no outlaw but I’ve been inside” and a little self-referencing in his chosen memorial “Find an old live oak to carve my name.” But there’s a new simplicity to a tuned down ‘Overseas‘ which makes the stark choices of staying in a dying small town for family reasons or heading out into a possibly brighter elsewhere mirror the ding of love that attends these choices. Other songs, like ‘Last Of My Kind‘ were always in a folk idiom, but even here with the slight decoration of the recording absent there’s a harder delineation of the pain that accompanies feelings of being out of place, and out of time. The blues-rag of ‘Foxes In The Snow‘ is the title song of the new album and manages to marry a bouncing upbeat musical style with a love song that seems increasingly bleak in tone.
It’s good to be able to report that Jason Isbell appreciates the progress he’s made in his musical career – he fondly recalls playing the Slaughtered Lamb a decade or more ago, and acknowledges that the applause that garnered was around the size of a full house back there. His anecdote about ‘Live Oak‘ is too long to repeat – it was also quite funny so deserves to be heard – but the comment that it isn’t necessarily a murder ballad adds an extra macabre twist to “Buried her so deep / She touched the water table line.” It’s one of the songs that Isbell seems to want to distance from the autobiographical claim – but his many well documented issues and how he’s tackled them, or been helped in tackling them – do seem to chime with this song that asks does she love me or does she love who I used to be? Either way, with elements of autobiography or not, it’s a stand-out in a set of stand out songs. Nothing topped ‘If We Were Vampires‘ though – here’s a song that embraces the thought that it’s death that gives life meaning, and is bold enough to make undying love selfish with the promise to “give you every second I can find” followed by the brutally honest wish “and hope it isn’t me who’s left behind.”
He closed the set with another song of the entrapment of small town life, ‘Speedtrap Town‘ and any given listener would have been able to make a list of favourites left unplayed – but the old ones were Isbell’s favourites, or at least, as he noted “I didn’t play any old ones I don’t like.” He made us work for the encore, but it was worth it with the quite autobiographical ‘Outfit‘ the sole Drive By Truckers song of the evening, which went down quite well. Quite well. The encore closed out with a Bon Iver cover (‘Beth/Rest‘) and a final new song from the new album, ‘True Believer‘. It’s probably safe to say, having heard half the album now, that it is going to be quite popular. Isbell, over the 90 minutes or so of the gig, had demonstrated his undoubted prowess – one person holding a big room in thrall is not so easy, but that’s what he did. Here’s to the next time – be it band or solo – Isbell has deservedly carved a big place for himself.
Thanks for posting the review. I’m a huge Isbell fan but was apprehensive about how he would approach a solo show – oh me of little faith! I thought it was excellent, raw and honest and great to hear him interact with the audience more than he would with the 400 unit
My first visit to the Barbican (I’m from the cold North) and it was fantastic night. Isbel on top form. You review captures the evening perfectly