Well looky here. During the Newport Folk Festival last year, David Crosby joined Jason Isbell on stage during his performance with the 400 Unit to perform two Crosby, Stills & Nash songs, ‘Wooden Ships’ and ‘Ohio’. They’ve become Twitter pals since then, kind of metaphorically high fiving each other, and then Jason Isbell tweeted yesterday that he “brought a ringer into the studio to sing”, that ringer being none other than… Continue reading “David Crosby is recording with Jason Isbell”
It’s all in aid of the new Dylan Bootleg Series release, naturally, but Jason Isbell and Rosanne Cash are two of those talking about ‘Nashville Skyline‘ and ‘John Wesley Harding‘ on a short film put out by Columbia Records. Continue reading “Jason Isbell & Rosanne Cash talk about Dylan in Nashville”
Which sounds like Boston to us, but hey that’s not a bad thing. Singer-songwriter Sadler Vaden otherwise known as the lead guitarist of Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit since 2013, has announced details of his second solo album which will be called ‘Anybody Out There?’ and self-produced by Vaden. The album will be released March 6th via Thirty Tigers/Dirty Mag Records and you can hear the first track below. Continue reading “400 Unit’s Sadler Vaden to release new solo record”
We leave you this week dear reader with a clip (just filmed on someone’s phone sorry – but thank you person with the phone, we’re not complaining) of Jason Isbell and his 400 Unit performing an electrifying cover of Dire Straits’ ‘Brothers in Arms’, a song known to make grown men weep inconsolably. The song was played as part of Isbell’s yearly residency at the Ryman which has become something of an institution in americana circles. RS Country have a full set list if you’re interested. Have a good one.
After almost a quarter of a century of releasing highly-acclaimed, Grammy-nominated records, North Mississippi Allstars have released their 11th album, ‘Up and Rolling’. The Dickinson brothers, Luther and Cody, have once again demonstrated their sublime songcraft and expert musicianship on one of the year’s most eagerly anticipated releases. Continue reading “North Mississippi Allstars “Up and Rolling” (New West Records, 2019)”
Apologies for completely missing this last week – Josh Ritter played one of NPR’s magical little Tiny Desk concerts last week, as they described it “with the enthusiasm of a young child and the wisdom of an old soul”. Accompanying him was Amanda Shires on fiddle and Jason Isbell on acoustic guitar, both of who played on Ritter’s recent album ‘Fever Breaks’ which indeed Isbell produced. You can watch it below. Continue reading “Josh Ritter plays NPR Tiny Desk Concert with Amanda Shires And Jason Isbell: Watch”
We’ve got some more details on the reissue two of Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit’s earliest albums – 2009’s self-titled ‘Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit’ and 2011’s ‘Here We Rest’ – both remixed and remastered by Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb – out October 18th for the first time on Thirty Tigers. These records contain some of Isbell’s best-known songs, including ‘Alabama Pines, Codeine, Cigarettes and Wine, The Blue’ and ‘Tour Of Duty’. Continue reading “Jason Isbell re-releases two classic albums”
Rolling Stone carried an interesting piece yesterday on americana and country artists who in the wake of the recent mass shootings in the US have voiced their support for gun control. In several recent incidents, the guns used were semi-automatic assault weapons which more than half of Americans favour a ban on owning. Continue reading “Rosanne Cash, Isbell and more voice support for gun control”
The Highwomen, if you haven’t heard, are a like a new up to date female version of the Highway Men (geddit?), the country supergroup from the 80s which included Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. The Highwomen are Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires and Natalie Hemby, and they performed the song ‘Eagle When She Flies’ at the Newport Folk Festival Saturday night, with backing from Mr Shires, Jason Isbell. Their self-titled debut album is coming out in September.
Sheryl Crow has covered Bob Dylan songs in the past such as ‘Mississippi’ and ‘Tombstone Blues’, and she keeps up that tradition on her forthcoming ‘Threads’ album, due next month, where she covers Dylan’s ‘Everything Is Broken’ but recasts the song as a duet with Jason Isbell. As RS describes it, “their rendition opens with some fierce guitar runs from Isbell, before Crow sings about “broken lines,” “broken strings” and, in a nod to her album title, “broken threads.” Isbell steps in on the second verse, lamenting “streets filled with broken hearts.” It’s a true duet, with the vocalists eventually swapping lines and harmonizing together.” Have a listen below.
