The second of two songs that were voted equal ninth by our writers.
Another shoo-in for the Top Ten list, given the high esteem in which Jason Isbell is held by americana fans. In our best ever album Feature, Southeastern (2013) was voted fourth equal. He may be the current leading songwriter of the genre and Southeastern (made after his move to sobriety and heavily influenced by his girlfriend, later wife, Amanda Shires, who provided some of the impetus for him to give up alcohol, as did Ryan Adams), produced a fair few gems, including the iconic Cover Me Up, which, somewhat surprisingly, failed to feature in any writer’s list.
Elephant was probably a bit of a grower – the emotional impact of the content perhaps only hit home immediately to people who had experienced first-hand the event described in the song, the death of a friend from cancer. Pete Churchill described it as follows “Searingly honest, it is such an emotionally moving song, sung with so much feeling, it left an indelible mark on first hearing that doesn’t lessen on repeat hearings. A masterpiece”. Lyrically it has lines of spellbinding brilliance “no one dies with dignity” (an uncomfortable truth),” I’d carry her to bed and sweep up the hair from the floor” (an image strong enough to make a strong man weep). The whole song is littered with such images and words of disarming honesty (a feature of many of Isbell’s lyrics). Pete is right, its power does not diminish over time.
Isbell has another song further up the list and the two artists featured at 9th today are the only ones to have two songs each in the Top Ten. Isbell’s was voted for at No 1 by two of our writers.
