Description of Jason Isbell's Music:

Americana, singer-songwriter

Comparisons:

Jason Isbell's more recent work brings to mind great story-song writers like Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, and Kris Kristofferson. No doubt he's inhereted their penchant for weaving an engaging narrative then delivering the one line that breaks your heart. But, he also walks a line between the soulful songwriting of Justin Townes Earle and the no-holds-barred rawness of JTE's father Steve Earle.


Fans of both those artists will, no doubt, appreciate Jason Isbell's songwriting. He may also interest fans of Lucinda Williams, Mary Gauthier, and Buddy Miller. Further, it goes without saying that fans of Isbell's band the Drive-By Truckers will appreciate his solo work as well.

Drive-By Truckers Lineup:

Jason Isbell began his career as a guitarist with the Drive-By Truckers, which has consisted of various combinations of:

Patterson Hood - guitar, vocals, bass
Mike Cooley - guitar, vocals, bass
Jason Isbell - guitar
Shonna Tucker - bass
Earl Hicks - bass
John Neff - pedal steel
Spooner Oldham - keyboards
Brad Morgan - drums
Jay Gonzalez - keyboards, guitar, vocals
Matt Patton - bass

The 400 Unit Lineup:

Derry DeBorja - keyboards
Jimbo Hart - bass
Chad Gamble - drums

Recommended Albums by Jason Isbell:

Southeastern (Southeastern Records, 2013) purchase/download

Live from Alabama with the 400 Unit (Lightning Rod Records, 2012)

Here We Rest with the 400 Unit (Lightning Rod Records, 2011)

Purchase/Download Jason Isbell MP3s:

"Live Oak" (from Southeastern)
"Alabama Pines" with the 400 Unit (from Here We Rest)
"Elephant" (from Southeastern)

Jason Isbell Biography:

Jason Isbell was born in February of 1979 in Greenhill, Alabama, and grew up a stone's throw from the legendary music mecca of Muscle Shoals. He grew up in a family of musicians - with the exception of his parents, who were simply big music fans. He grew up playing the guitar and developed a deep proficiency on the instrument. He studied literature in college, and the study led him to write more complex, poetic song lyrics. He toyed around with songwriting for some time before joining emergent alt-country band the Drive-By Truckers in 2001.

Though he joined the band to fill in as an extra guitarist, his songwriting quickly emerged as a major force in the band, garnering as much praise and attention as that of the group's founders Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley. He met and married bass player Shonna Tucker and contributed songs and instrumental backing to three Truckers albums before she joined the band and he left it. Eventually, he and Tucker divorced and Isbell set off on his own to forge a solo career.

He amassed a backing band of players plucked from fellow Alabamans, including keyboardist Derry DeBorja, formerly of seminal alt-country band Son Volt. The 400 Unit was named after the local slang used to refer to an old psychiatric ward at a Florence, Alabama hospital. They released their debut in early 2009, followed by a sophomore effort in 2011.

Meanwhile, Isbell was spiraling into the too-frequent trap of alcoholism and addiction, which claims so many touring musicians. It wasn't until he met and fell in love with singer-songwriter Amanda Shires that he became convinced to check himself into rehab and turn his life around. After successfully completing the program, he and Shires were married and Isbell released his first album as an entirely solo singer-songwriter. Southeastern dropped on Southeastern Records in the summer of 2013, to universal praise from Americana critics and the blogosphere. The album documents not only his battle with addiction and emergence from it, but various other struggles as well, from a uniquely Southern and arrestingly raw perspective.

To learn more background about Jason Isbell's evolution as a singer and songwriter, as well as a running list of tour dates, visit his website at JasonIsbell.com