Jason Isbell keeps it real, live and exciting
ONE of the many highlights of this year’s Byron Bay Bluesfest was a blazing set by Southern rocker Jason Isbell and his band the 400 Unit.
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ONE of the many highlights of this year’s Byron Bay Bluesfest was a blazing set by Southern rocker Jason Isbell and his band the 400 Unit.
For more than an hour songs with vivid storylines, strong melodies and taut arrangements blending acoustic numbers featuring that husky Alabamian country rock voice with foot-to-the-floor bourbon-tinged rock rolled over his audience like a cyclone from Nashville.
Isbell moved seamlessly from his Martin acoustic to a Fender Telecaster with songs featuring well-crafted lyrics about the darker seamy side of life — the bourbon, self-destructive drugs and disillusionment of his early days in the anthemic country rock of Last of My Kind to the straight-ahead rock and roll of Super 8 (“don’t wanna die in a Super 8 motel/Just because somebody’s evening didn’t go so well”).
Isbell has sworn off the booze — now he just uses the experience for some memorable lines for his songs: ``In days when we raged, we flew off the page. Such damage was done.’’ They’re all delivered with raw honesty and emotion but also with a strong feeling of redemption.
BONUS
Now you can capture some of the excitement of that latest tour on a newly released Spunk Records album featuring 13 songs from his last three studio albums recorded over six concerts at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium in 2017.
And it has the added bonus of Isbell’s wife Amanda Shires on fiddle and harmonies, something Australian fans didn’t get this year.
As ever The 400 unit — keyboardist Derry deBorja, Chad Gamble (drums), Jimbo Hart (bass), Shires and guitarist Sadler Vaden — are tight and bright, making them one of the best live outfits in the business.
Track picks would be the classic Cover Me Up and Elephant, both from Southeastern; 24 Frames and Flagship, from Something More Than Free; and Last Of My Kind from the double Grammy Award-winning 2017 album The Nashville Sound.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s Live from The Ryman is available for pre-order at JB Hi-Fi for $19.99 or $42.99 for vinyl.