THE DEAL: Jason Isbell bares his soul.
THE GOOD: If you find the cargo the Drive By Truckers are hauling these days a little too bleak, check out what former Trucker Jason Isbell and his 400 Unit have on their manifest. On Here We Rest, Isbell’s third release since leaving DBT in ’07, the music is more mellow and soulful than his previous efforts (’07’s Sirens of the Ditch and ’09’s Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit.) But that doesn’t mean that the singer/guitarist has gone soft. His lyrics still slash you open like a straight razor. “Codeine,” about a bad night with a girl that Isbell told GQ magazine “had me pacing around in my boxers with a pistol till 5 a.m.,” rivals anything hip-hop syrup-sippers have done on the subject. Isbell’s cover of soul goddess Candi Staton’s “Heart on a String” reveals his hometown Muscle Shoals soul roots. Isbell’s vocals are a blend of John Prine, Steve Earle, Jackson Browne and Eric Lindell. It’s a world-weary voice that sounds like it should be emanating from a creased leathery visage twice the age of the cherubic-looking 32-year-old.
THE BAD: Nothing to report. This is the best and most eclectic version of Isbell we’ve seen to date.
THE VERDICT: No matter what he does, many DBT fans will continue to compare Isbell’s work to what he did as a Trucker. But as this outing demonstrates, its time for them to move on and accept and appreciate him for what he’s become, not what he was.
This article appears in Apr 19-25, 2011.
