![\"Jason-Isbell-Issue-No28\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Jason-Isbell-Issue-No28.jpg\")
JASON ISBEL<\/h1>\nJASON ISBEL<\/h1>\n\u201cUsually, I was too drunk to read, much less write,\u201d says Jason Isbell. \u201cThe biggest difference in making this record is that I had more time and energy. I knew all along what I needed to do to make the songs better, but it\u2019s hard when you\u2019ve got that nagging feeling telling you to drink.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old singer-songwriter has been sober for nearly a year after entering rehab in early 2012. When he completed the program, Isbell began writing for Southeastern<\/i>, a deeply personal album. \u201cThese songs have more to do with my own life than anything I\u2019ve made in the past,\u201d the former Drive-By Trucker explains. \u201cI wanted to make an album that was just me and an acoustic guitar, maybe some piano, but I got bored. There are enough of those albums in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Isbell chose Dave Cobb (Jamey Johnson, Shooter Jennings) to produce the album, thanks in part to the work Cobb did on Squidbillies<\/i>, an animated TV series for which Isbell has also contributed music. \u201cDave had produced George Jones\u2019 version of the Squidbillies<\/i> theme song,\u201d says Isbell. \u201cHe managed to incorporate each era of George\u2019s career into a two-minute song. That impressed me.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was Cobb\u2019s decision to include a number of live vocals, something Isbell hadn\u2019t done in the past. \u201cDoing it Dave\u2019s way was hard for me because I obsess over my vocals,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I\u2019m glad we did it because I think we got more emotion and honesty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Isbell finished recording Southeastern<\/i> during a whirlwind week in which he married fiddler Amanda Shires and left for a Costa Rican honeymoon. There he continued working on the album, though it proved more difficult than usual. \u201cI took a cab into town and bought headphones that fell apart before I got back to the hotel. There was one spot, about 5 foot square, where I could find a WiFi signal to download mixes so I could listen to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the struggles, the finished album is a stunning collection of songs, frequently heartbreaking, and none more devastating than \u201cElephant,\u201d a character study that finds Isbell singing, \u201cThere\u2019s one thing that\u2019s real clear to me \/ No one dies with dignity \/ You just try to ignore the elephant somehow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI built those characters around people I know,\u201d Isbell says. \u201cIt\u2019s important to build characters and allow them to behave naturally. It\u2019s not a happy song, but I think as far as songwriting goes, it\u2019s about the best I can do right now. I feel like I\u2019m in a good place. Hopefully I\u2019ll continue to improve as a writer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013Juli Thanki<\/p>\n
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JASON ISBEL Welcoming sobriety, the former Drive-By Trucker digs deep\u00a0 \u201cUsually, I was too drunk to read, much less write,\u201d says Jason Isbell. \u201cThe biggest difference in making this record is that I had more time and energy. I knew all along what I needed to do to make the songs better, but it\u2019s hard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[6978,7086],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10779"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10782,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10779\/revisions\/10782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}