Jason Isbell unloaded (link)

Good article - and ill say by industry standards they weren't bad but by his potential ability the first two were inconsistent and at times disappointing. They had glimpses of greatness but they were not great albums.

If you had to list his best songs (including dbt) how deep would you get before you hit anything off it? It has some good songs but not the grand slam home runs he's hit. It also has a couple of "meh" songs that I tend to skip. It's still good but its not his finest and is far short of his potential. Measured against other artists - it's quality, measured against himself it's certainly lacking something special.

Decoration day
Outfit
GLL
Alabama pines
Danko Manuel

All come to mind just offhand as head and shoulders above the best of sirens. Disclaimer: I haven't listened to sirens in a bit, but I'd be starting to weigh in a razor town against some tracks off here we rest at this point I think.

Stopping by is a really good one. I'd probably put that a cut above just about anything on the first two solo... Which goes hand in hand with what I was saying the highs are higher and the lows not as low when comparing here we rest to sirens. I like sirens but I think he's coming back around to that throne of being one of the best of the generation that he showed flashes of at 22. Writing decoration day and outfit over a 2 week stretch is not the same guy that put out his first two solo, but it seems like he's on the cusp of being there again.

What I've heard of southeastern sounds fantastic. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm curious to hear if the clarity of sobriety along with the rest of the positivity in his life help him take that next step and he can work that magic for a full album. If the cuts I've heard are any reflection he's headed back to great places.

From Sirens, I'd list Dress Blues and Razor Town

And from the 400 unit, Streetlights, which may be my favorite Isbell song

Likewise, I'd say go grab the first cut on iTunes - Stockholm. I think it's much more naturally Jason isbell. Something about sirens (and I re listened today) sounds like him trying to write a Jason isbell album, instead of just being him writing an album (as utterly pretentious as that sounds).... Like the pressure of having the spotlight 100% on him, the pressure of wanting to say screw you to DBT for dropping him, the pressure of the expectations of being called potentially the best writer of the generation, and his alcohol abuse all took that little something away.... But that he was still stupidly talented.

There's a clarity of vision that I think his best writing has (both lyrically, and musically), and its, just my opinion, a bit more muddled on that album despite still liking it.

quote:

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Isbell replied that if the band was going to tour under the name Drive-By Truckers, he wasn’t going to miss even one show. Cooley then called Isbell and said, as Isbell recalls, “that isn’t going to work for us.”

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what does that mean though?

everyone knows he left because he couldn't be around shanna...

I'm sure it had something to do with it but he's told me personally he left dbt because of shanna

Can't blame the guy for not wanting to be in a band with his estranged ex wife..

I'm sure he was a mess at that time too. It all seemed to have combined for a bad exit.