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Home - Music
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Soulful Roots
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Former Drive-By Trucker Jason Isbell continues strong songwriting
By Jesse D. Stanek
Jason Isbell, with his band The 400 Unit — and also as an integral part of The Drive-By Truckers — crafted a illustrious canon of rich, poignant songs, teetering somewhere between rock, country and soul. It should then come as little surprise that Isbell grew up in Muscle Shoals, Ala., home of the world-renowned FAME studio which brought classic tunes from the likes Aretha Franklin, Eric Clapton, Miles Davis and Wilson Pickett to name a few. Isbell’s work carries a soulful quality highly reminiscent of the magic made at FAME during his formative years.
“Growing up where I did definitely had a lot to do with me doing what I do now,” Isbell said, during a short break in recording. “I come from a very musical family so I was exposed to that at a young age. Almost everyone in my family, with the exception of my mom and dad, can play at least two or three different instruments. But I didn’t really get into the local scene until I was 16 and playing shows around town. I would see all these session players, legendary guys in that regard and they were all very open to what we were doing at that time. They really kind of let us into their world.”
After contributing tracks to seminal DBT records Decoration Day, The Dirty South and A Blessing And A Curse (including what I believe to be one of the greatest rock songs written in the last 20 years, “Outfit”) and divorcing DBT bassist Shonna Tucker, Isbell rounded up his own band and released two albums of solid Americana/soul, 2007’s Sirens of The Ditch and 2009’s self-titled effort. While The 400 Unit is certainly quieter than DBT, Isbell’s eye for colorful details and ear for timeless melodies are certainly still in tact.
“Looking back on it with a couple years distance,” he said, “I’d say playing with The Truckers was a good thing. It helped me learn how to play within the confines of a band, how to listen to the other players and work off them. I also got a lot of confidence in the studio and on the stage that I probably wouldn’t have if not for that experience. Plus, working with Patterson [Hood] meant that I had to write really good songs just to keep up. It kept me on my toes as a songwriter.”
Isbell’s prowess as a contemporary songwriter of note is on full display in the cut “Dress Blues,” a song about a young man returning home from war in a pine box and how his small hometown goes about mourning. Descriptions like ‘Flags on the side of the highway and scripture on grocery store signs’ do an excellent job of setting place and enrich the emotional undercurrent of the song greatly. Verses like ‘Your baby would just about be here / and your very last tour would be up / but you won’t be back, they’re all dressing in black / drinking sweet tea in Styrofoam cups,’ drive the message home and make for a rich, memorable and affecting narrative.
“The songwriting process is different for me every time,” Isbell said. “I don’t usually write on the road a whole lot. It’s usually at home, in the morning, whatever time morning may come for me, when my head hasn’t gotten cluttered with everything else yet. I mostly start with a melody, then add a verse and then go to an instrument from there.
Sometimes I’ll record a little piece of music and then just listen to it over and over until I get something. But it’s always about things I’ve personally experienced or someone I know has. I definitely don’t always write from my own point of view though.”
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit play The Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St., Sunday, Aug. 1, at 9 p.m. Kris Lager Band opens the show and tickets are $12 ADV, $15 DOS. Visit onepercentproductions.com.
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