Tag Archives: Weathervanes

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Song of the Day #6,262: ‘Strawberry Woman’ – Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit

One reason I know Jason Isbell is a special talent is that he can write issue songs without losing me. I almost always bump up against overtly political songs, but he finds a way to make them work.

Isbell’s ninth album, Weathervanes, has a couple of those. One, ‘King of Oklahoma,’ tackles the opioid crisis and another, ‘Save the World,’ is a response to the Uvalde school shooting. In both cases, the songs succeed because he digs into the messy emotional truth at the core of the issues. He doesn’t write polemics, he writes diary entries.

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Song of the Day #5,535: ‘Save the World’ – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

One of the more prominent critics of Jason Aldean’s ‘Try That in a Small Town’ was fellow country artist Jason Isbell, known for his brilliant songwriting chops, his outspoken leftist politics, and his Twitter clapback game.

Isbell opted to take a shot at Aldean for defending a song he didn’t even write. “Dare Aldean to write his next single himself. That’s what we try in my small town,” Isbell tweeted. Then, “Ok here ya go @Jason_Aldean I’m challenging you to write a song yourself. All alone. If you’re a recording artist, make some art. I want to hear it.” And, “Seriously how do you defend the content of a song you weren’t even in the room for? You just got it from your producer. If you’d been there when it was written, you’d be listed as a writer. We all know how this works.”

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Song of the Day #5,478: ‘If You Insist’ – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

I’ve heard Jason Isbell’s new album, Weathervanes, all the way through just once but I already know it’s a work of art. This is Isbell’s ninth solo release (and sixth with backing band the 400 Unit) and the man somehow just keeps getting better.

Actually, I take that back. “Getting better” suggests his early work was any less resonant and assured than the latest collection, and that’s simply not the case. He emerged from his six years with the Drive-By Truckers as a fully-formed, brilliant artist whose every release demands attention.

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Song of the Day #5,417: ‘Cast Iron Skillet’ – Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit

Add one more title to the list of upcoming June releases by my favorite artists. I just learned that Jason Isbell, accompanied by his band the 400 Unit, will release an album titled Weathervanes on June 9.

Isbell first grabbed my attention with 2017’s The Nashville Sound, after which I quickly gobbled up the rest of his catalog. He delivers a rich blend of folk, Americana, and southern rock filtered through his fierce intellect and eagerness for merciless self-reflection. I discovered him around the same time I first heard Brandi Carlile and I think of them as flip sides of the same brilliant coin.

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