This one got long. These are my bands.
Counting Crows
One Liner: Some of the formative music of my teenage years
Wikipedia Genre: alternative rock, roots rock, pop rock
Home: Berkeley, CA
Day: Sunday
Wikipedia Genre: alternative rock, roots rock, pop rock
Home: Berkeley, CA
Day: Sunday
Thoughts: Back with their first two albums, I think I may have considered them my favorite band. Which should entirely track, after years of loving R.E.M. and U2, for another gently introspective band to come along with pop sense and jangly guitar hooks - it was just the right flavor of new while still looking back at what I already loved. I associate them with a high school lacrosse trip to San Francisco, a "college visit" to CU Boulder while my sister was living there and I just went and hung out on her couch for a few days before we drove back to Austin together, and my first real girlfriend. Lots of formative moments with these songs along for the ride.
One other little anecdote - college buddies and I went on a very gross New Orleans trip at the tail end of a Mardi Gras, complete with all of the debauchery this should entail. We thought we were very clever at the time to use the Jerry McGuire "SHOW ME THE MONEY" to try to see boobs and throw beads at people. Pro-tip - the Tropical Isle Hand Grenades are no joke. But at one point, we noticed a big crowd on Bourbon, which ended up being Adam Duritz and Courtney Cox trying to get somewhere among a throng of people and photographers. We thought that was very cool. And then we likely barfed somewhere again.
August & Everything After won two Grammy awards (including Best New Artist, and sold more than 7 million copies. Recovering the Satellites reached number one and had more than 2 million copies sold (which seems low to me). Anyway, even after those first two excellent discs, I still think Hard Candy and This Desert Life have some good bits and pieces. The latter of those reminds me of my first job out of college when I downloaded that album using some jenky pre-Napster thing. 2008's Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings rights a bell, but just barely, and then 2013's Underwater Sunshine, 2014's Somewhere Under Wonderland, and 2025's Butter Miracle, the Complete Sweets! (yes, that is the album title) don't sound familiar in the slightest. I had no clue they had released a 2025 album. Listening to it now, and it is fine. Sounds a lot like the old stuff, with maybe a little more cursing than I recalled back then.
The wife and I went to go see these guys play at the Moody Amphitheater in 2021. And the lesson to me at the time was that sometimes you can't go back. She had always loved August & Everything After and Recovering the Satellites, so it seemed like an easy win to score tickets for this show and bring happiness to our lives. The issue here is that Adam Duritz just kind of went off on his own little deal and refused to really stick to the songs. Now, don't get mad at me, I don't expect a band to do exact replicas of their songs for a concert. I'm down with some ad libs and changing things up to make it fresh and interesting. But he straight up just changed the songs and the lyrics and the notes he was supposed to hit. Like, "Mr. Jones" is half sung in a falsetto because it's supposed to be so high? Well Adam just kept it down in a baritone and did his thing. Which leaves the crowd - mainly old people who dug these songs in 1994 - all over the place when trying to sing along. From talking to others, this is apparently a known thing, that Duritz doesn't seem to try to emulate his recorded songs. A quick google reflects this as well.
Which is too bad! The band sounded good, and it was fun to hear them play some of my favorite tunes, but not being able to sing along is lame, and it's also just hard to get into a tune that you know and love when the reasons for it being amazing in the first place are removed. But maybe the last five years of global happiness and sunshine have mellowed Adam out and he is really looking forward to turning over a new leaf at the Bourbon Fest.
Foster the People
One Liner: The Pumped Up Kicks guys, still making pop rock goodness
Wikipedia Genre: Indie pop, alternative rock, indie rock, dance-pop, indietronica, neo-psychedelia (oooh, "indietronica" is a new one)
Home: L.A.
Day: Friday
Wikipedia Genre: Indie pop, alternative rock, indie rock, dance-pop, indietronica, neo-psychedelia (oooh, "indietronica" is a new one)
Home: L.A.
Day: Friday
Thoughts: Last saw these fellas as ACL in 2024 - great show. High energy and fun. They also played ACL in 2014 and 2017.
Pop rock for the masses. Unless you have been living under a rock or refuse to listen to normal radio or watch TV or otherwise exist in a regular, public arena with the rest of us, you have heard "Pumped Up Kicks" before. Likely more than a million times before. Because it has an insane 2.4 BILLION streams on Spotify. Holy Hannah. (also of note, at least to me, is that this number is up from 1.7 billion in 2024. So, it is still being listened to a ton even 15 years after it was released)
This video has been seen over a BILLION freaking times. I mean, damn. It was a number one single, received a Grammy nomination, and generally took over the world in 2011. And despite the sunny little tune and happy sounding chorus, the whole thing is about a psychotic kid who is telling other kids that they'd better run when he starts shooting them. You would also probably recognize "Helena Beat," "Don't Stop," "I Would Do Anything For You," and "Houdini" from their first album. This video, for Houdini (from their first album) was up for a Grammy but did not win:
That original album (2011's Torches) ended up selling a ton because of "Pumped Up Kicks," and some of those other songs were pretty popular in their own right, especially "Don't Stop." Fun album.
The next album was 2014's Supermodel. Had a few singles, nothing as world destroying as Kicks, but "Coming of Age" is a pretty catchy ditty. 86.9 million streams.
My preconceived thought is that I dislike these guys. "Pumped Up Kicks" got (and still gets) so much airplay that I have been annoyed by it. This seems like pop factory music made to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Without giving them a shot, I've got loads of that hipster-held-hatred garbage for something inauthentic. But if I toss all of that out the window and just enjoy "Coming of Age," it is a damn fun jam. Supermodel is pretty good from front to back. Just enjoyable dance rock. It should set off some fun, even if it won't inspire the next Springsteen.
And I think Mark Foster is a great success story. He moved to L.A. from Ohio to pursue music and was going nowhere, working day jobs and just trying to get noticed, scuffled around for a few years, got heavily addicted to drugs, but then came up with "Pumped Up Kicks." Launched him into the stratosphere. I think that is cool. Well, not the drug addiction bit, but the old rising from the ashes bit.
As an aside, I had a weird moment, where I thought Spotify had messed up and started playing A$AP Rocky, because Foster the People's track "A Beginner's Guide to Destroying the Moon" actually samples A$AP Rocky's "LVL," which is an odd juxtaposition.
Weird, right?
After that, Sacred Hearts Club came out in 2017. It did not break much new ground for the band, they are still sticking to really danceable pop rock jams that are pretty fun to just jam out to. But they do extend more into electronics. The top song back when the album came out was "Doing It For the Money," now at 41 million streams.
This got some radio play back then and honestly, it isn't my favorite tune. I feel like they are trying too hard to court the electronic side of their demographic and leaving behind the fun party rock in favor of sounding kind of like a trap EDM track. And the album has other unfortunate examples of the same, like "Loyal Like Sid & Nancy," which is about a minute worth of EDM thumping that opens up a little but stays pretty lame. The more I hear that track the less I like this whole album. On the other hand, "Lotus Eater" is a good rock song that should be their yardstick for measuring good songs. But the big hit that erupted from the album ended up being "Sit Next To Me," which still gets radio play even today. 465.8 million streams.
Overall, I've enjoyed listening to that album all day - even with my reservations about going electro instead of sticking to their core sound. "SHC" is pretty solid. "Sit Next To Me" is tasty.
But after that 2017 album - a long break of just singles and EPs. Otherwise, no more albums for seven years. Wikipedia has nothing explaining that gap, it just sounds like they split from their record label and have been enjoying the freedom of releasing a single when they feel like it. But then they fired up a new disc in 2024 - Paradise State of Mind - and it gets you just where you need to go with danceable pop rock action. I don't love it all, when I listened to it a handful of times it sort of just glides by without leaving much impression other than some funky wiggle. But their whole schtick would be fun to see live again.
Goose
One Liner: Jam band goofy goodness
Wikipedia Genre: rock, progressive rock, funk rock, psychedelic rock, jam rock
Home: Wilton, CT
Day: Thursday
Wikipedia Genre: rock, progressive rock, funk rock, psychedelic rock, jam rock
Home: Wilton, CT
Day: Thursday
Thoughts: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE! The wife will tell you that I am way too interested in this band. I listen to them a lot, and it makes me irrationally happy. When she goes to bed at night, I sometimes pull up live shows on YouTube and let them wash over me while I read (or sometimes just watch). The last solo road trip I had, I just blared Chain Yer Dragons and smiled like a fool as I jammed along. I am well aware that some people are not into jam band music, but I love this stuff. If you want to get a feel, go find their Madison Square Garden show from June 28, 2025 and just let it roll.
They were at ACL in 2022 and I didn't go because I wanted to get closer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. And I have kicked myself for that ever since. But, I get to see them next month here in Austin, so that is going to be sweet.
Two of these guys met at Berklee College of Music in 2012 or so, officially forming the band in 2014. They got a slow start, playing basements and local bars. They got a spot playing at the Peach Music Festival in 2019, which lead to a spot playing at Dead & Company's festival in Mexico, which lead to some big time bookings that all got cancelled when the pandemic hit. So, they pivoted and started doing livestream concerts out of a Connecticut barn instead and their audience grew even more.
I have a feeling that I am singular in the way that I discovered Goose for myself, because it is quite honestly really a weird thing. We'll go back to the beginning. And in the beginning, Vampire Weekend released a song called 2021, on the album Father of the Bride. Pretty good song. The guitar solo in the center sounds like some classical song I can't recall right now, like "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" or something. Well, Goose then collaborated with them or something, and turned that minute and forty second track into a twenty minute and twenty one second track that just noodles through, in, and around that same song into infinity. It's actually pretty freaking great. "2021 (January 5th, to be exact)"
Hews a little more truly to the sound of the original to start, and then just ambles off into the sunset with it, before suddenly unfurling wings and launching into the sky for some steel-powered fireworks, and then turning back around and loping back towards the barn to look for a soft place to lay down.
Based upon that strange introduction, I hunted down another Goose album to give their other stuff a try. Their 2020 EP called Night Lights was the one I hunted down and reviewed, and here is what I had to say:
"Goose - Night Lights. I blame Vampire Weekend for this. I already know that most jam band music misses the mark for me, but these guys did such a cool job reimagining 20:21 that I had to go hunt down something else from them and give it a shot. Some of this is fiiiiiine, but some of it was also so cheesy sounding that I actually worried the other day that the guy working on my sprinkler system might hear it from my home office and judge me for listening to some Teletubbies ass shit while working. I'm sure the sprinkler guy gave no shits and/or was high and would have enjoyed it, but if you're getting self-conscious about what the sprinkler guy thinks, then you don't love the music. The opening track is the best one - "All I Need" - and "Time to Flee" is the whack shit. Neither of those is the stream king though, with "Wysteria Lane" claiming that crown with 735k.
Lower key than most of these other songs, or at least slower tempo. Feels like the part of their show when you'll realize just how stoned you really are because you've stopped pogo-ing around and yelling alligator rhymed with see-you-later. I dig some of the other tunes better, where they really intertwine their instruments. This one is a little more straight. Sounds like something The Revivalists might have played (except missing the slide guitar). I have a feeling that I would dig their live show more than this EP."And here's the thing - I'm just not really a jam band guy. I have always liked the Dead, and I like some bands that dance around the edge of jamminess like My Morning Jacket or The Revivalists or Dave Matthews or Moon Taxi. I've been to at least one jam band show that I loved - Umphrey's McGee can play the living hell out of their instruments - and then a lot where I felt like I just didn't get it - String Cheese Incident, for sure. But Widespread and Phish never tickled my fancy, and so at first I figured this band wouldn't necessarily scratch my itch.
Although, it has grown on me. Big time. Back then, it was three new singles that clicked - "Borne," "Dripfield," and "Hungersite" - and especially that last one. They get into some jam bits, but the majority of it drops some of the "Shakedown Street" type disco funk and goes for more of a straight soft rock thing. "Hungersite" with 9.5 million streams so far.
Poor little office worker drones! And why did the bag with the video tape in it also have donuts and mango La Croix in it? Weird detail. Still goes for the long guitar solo in there, but the overall vibe doesn't feel so loose and improvisational. Also, what kind of animal puts a bunch of donuts in a paper bag where their toppings can rub off? Freak.
As for Shenanigans Nite Club, it opens with the hit of the album, "So Ready," which sounds like the discofied funk that I always attribute to "Shakedown Street" when a jam band goes that way. The second tune, "Satellite" definitely makes me think of Phish with the ever shriller guitar licks climbing their way higher and higher. The jam at the back half of "Madhuvan" is pretty fun and groovy. As soon as the auto-tune vocals on "Spirit of the Dark Horse" kick in, I laughed and realized this album is not my thing at all. Oh, and the 12 minute long "Labyrinth" at the end - big nope energy.
Since those early releases though, they have been putting out music that I really like. For example, the two discs they released in 2025 are both great. Everything Must Go and then Chain Yer Dragon, about which I said the following: "Goose - Chain Yer Dragon. I am becoming a bit obsessive with Goose. This week, my youngest walked into the living room/kitchen area as I was cooking dinner and jamming to a very weird Christmas-time Goose show on YouTube, raised an eyebrow at me, and asked who my favorite band of all time is. I said, as I have always said since about 1988, R.E.M., and then went into a longer explanation that she promptly tuned out. Good times. But I will definitely say that I have been listening to this band like crazy over the past few months. And this disc is a big reason why. This album rules. You may hate jam band music, and that is totally fine, but the opening track just makes me happy with its goofy ass lyrics and funky strut. "please don't groove in the middle of my love connection" is just a wonderful lyric. I like how the disc gives you multiple facets - funky groove nuggets and chill balladry and all of the points in between. Just makes me want to reach for it again each time it is time to play music (which annoys the crap out of my lovely wife). Criminally low stream count, so maybe I'm just out here on an island jamming by myself... "Madalena" is the top track with 1.4 million streams.
That's your piano ballad side, but it is really nice. Makes me think of some smooth 70's AM gold - if James Taylor used more instruments and liked his bassist to funk it up. "Royal" kinda rules too. I think they just do a great job of allowing a little bit of jammy wandering, but still keep the overall songs themselves cohesive and tight enough."
But maybe the low streams counts are part of the deal - maybe their whole thing is that their live show is where the good stuff is. Lucky us, we have several live albums we can peep! I tried the Denver one from last year. I can see the appeal. I mean, they definitely get repetitive at times, but I can also feel the pleasure of a good repetitive groove that locks in and you can just let it take you over for a little while. Here is a show from Atlanta and the Sweetwater Festival in 2022.
See that weirdo dressed like a jellyfish? That is one of the String Cheese people who overran us at Red Rocks a few years back. What is up with those three guys who left the crowd after 1:45? Did they think they were there for a metal band? The dork in the green hat who is filming the first song - little does he know a professional grade video is being made right behind his head and will be available for free on YouTube. I'm sitting here judging the people in the crowd, meanwhile I personally hate to feel judged when I'm trying to let loose at a show and enjoy myself without inspection. Okay. This is goofy music - a huge crowd singing la-da-dat-dat-dahhh -da as they gently boogie around is something to behold. But at the same time, I think the show would probably pretty fun to go groove around to for an afternoon. I just found myself getting sucked into the extendo-jam during "Hungersite."
Love it. All in.
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit
One Liner: One of my favorite songwriters today
Wikipedia Genre: country, Americana, folk, southern rock
Home: Green Hill, Alabama
Day: Saturday
Wikipedia Genre: country, Americana, folk, southern rock
Home: Green Hill, Alabama
Day: Saturday
Thoughts: I am not entirely sure how to address Isbell. He's completely amazing. Probably top five thing on this lineup for me.
First, let me give you the review from the last time I got to see him:
"So freaking good. The thought of trying to quantify it right now seems difficult. I hadn't originally planned on going to any of the three shows he had scheduled for this little run, but then a friend pinged me with a freebee to stand at the Mezzanine level. Pretty sweet!
If you haven't yet heard the new album - Foxes in the Snow - he leaned pretty heavily on some of those new tunes. And you start to realize that he was kind of a dirt-bag to his ex-wife, as many of those lyrics are deeply confessional and he doesn't shy away from recounting bad moments that were his fault. Just plaintively asking the room if he intends to be alone for all of his days, or telling us that his own behavior was a shock to himself. "Good While It Lasted" is a powerful slice of that, with the title phrase taking on multiple meanings: (1) that their relationship was good while they were having fun and in love; (2) then afterwards, when he found a moment that he didn't think of her, that moment was good while it lasted; and (3) looking back on good memories and realizing it was good while it lasted.
Another amazing thing he did was to change up "Bury Me," the first single from the new album, into a rad zydeco boogie with accordion and everything. The original is a totally low-key acoustic plucker, so to hear it transformed into a danceable party was really cool.
He also fired through a handful of the songs that he recorded with the 400 Unit (which was nice, since they made the trip and all), but as usual he keeps skipping my favorites. A line in "Gravelweed," which is also great, speaks to this somewhat, where he sings “And now that I live to see my melodies betray me/ I’m sorry the love songs all mean different things today.” So, you can see that his recent divorce might change the way that he wants to perform, and those performances wouldn't include "Cover Me Up" or "If We Were Vampires" if he wrote those love songs about his now ex-wife. Also, no "Elephant." Which is such a dagger of a song, but so well-done. But, "King of Oklahoma" and "Cast Iron Skillet" and "Flying Over Water" were all still super good stuff.
I didn't know the Drive By Truckers song that he used to close the show until a few weeks ago. Had a dive down into a rabbit hole about Richard Manuel, one of the main guys from The Band. The bit of the chorus where Isbell sings "sounds like gold" is amazing, and then the song really lent itself well to the idea of jamming out and extending the groove into the night. I loved it. (shout out Counting Crows as well for their song that mentions him being dead. Those guys were great.)
10/10, would go see him again immediately if given the option!"
Now, let's just re-print my reviews of his albums over the years:
Jason Isbell - Southeastern. 2013. And another one! Although this one is from 2013, so it isn't keeping the 2020 streak alive. But Rolling Stone included this album in their top albums of the decade, and it didn't ring any bells to me, so I thought I'd try it. This guy is one of the best songwriters in the game right now. "Elephant" is an absolutely brutally, gutting song. I love it, but oooof. A tune about ignoring the elephant in the room while the lady in the story is dying of cancer. For some reason, one nugget gets me more than the rest - "She said, 'Andy, you're taking me home' / But I knew she planned to sleep alone / I'd carry her to bed and sweep up the hair from the floor." Fuuuuuck me, man.
"Travelling Alone" is a beauty as well. "Super 8" is just plain funny. But the top track is the opener, "Cover Me Up," with 32.4 million streams.
A live version, on Austin City Limits, but you'll get the gist. Just a really nice love song. I'm glad I found this album - maybe I need to just go back into the whole catalog and dig through everything he's ever done.
Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free. 2015. I never have really listened to the Drive By Truckers. I remember seeing them play a raucous and fun show at ACL a few years back, but I couldn't actually name a single song they sing. Isbell was their lead singer, and if this album is any indication, a hell of a songwriter. This stuff is legit, hard-scrabble stories of folks getting by over fine Americana tunes. I think I've heard "Life You Chose" before, maybe on the radio, but if not, then this is the one that should be played on the radio because it sticks in your mind.
Sounds like a great Ryan Adams song. The title track, "Hudson Commodore," and "24 Frames" are also good keepers on this one. I dig it. I think I need to go backwards in his catalog and see what else is going on back there. [I apparently keep promising that]
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - The Nashville Sound. 2017. I've honestly put off reviewing this album for a while because its such a devastating set of lyrics. Amazingly well written, but strap in, man. Here, I'll give you a taste from album opener, "Last of My Kind."
As soon as that track fades out, you are on to the upbeat rock of "Cumberland Gap," which sounds happy, but is instead a depressing tale of failure for a young miner who just drinks his pains away and can't figure out how to escape the shit of life. If you ignore the lyrics, its a snappy rock song, but man, if you listen to the words, its sad as all living hell. "As soon as the sun goes down, I find my way to the Mustang Lounge, And if you don't sit facing the window, You could be in any town. Maybe the Cumberland Gap just swallows you whole..." I mean, there is damn song called "Anxiety" on here that talks about being in constant pain - "I can't enjoy a goddamn thing...". Lord have mercy, this is some dark shit.
The top track is another real uplifter, this time called "If We Were Vampires," which has 3.6 million streams.
I honestly can't think of an album like this. Is there another album that is so brutally honest and crushingly sad? I mean, I know an album might have a song - "Everybody Hurts" or "Last Kiss" or "Tears in Heaven" or "He Stopped Loving Her Today" or "Travellin' Soldier" or "Angry All the Time" - but to have a rapid fire destruction of emotions like this for a sustained, multi-song stretch? Ugh. Maybe an album by the Smiths? Beck's Sea Change is melancholy, but nothing like this. I don't know, man. I really like this album for being so damn legitimate. And the sound is great, these songs are fun to hear. But man, give this guy a hug or something. I can't shake it from my mind.
I tried to go to college but I didn't belongJust a damn sad song. Sung over a lovely plucked tune that sounds very nice, but the dark lyrics and depressing picture of a guy who just never fits in and worries about what is happening around him, it drags you down.
Everything I said was either funny or wrong
They laughed at my boots, laughed at my jeans
Laughed when they gave me amphetamines
Left me alone in a bad part of town
Thirty-six hours to come back down
...
Mama says God won't give you too much to bear
That might be true in Arkansas
But I'm a long, long way from there
That whole world's a lonely, faded picture in my mind
As soon as that track fades out, you are on to the upbeat rock of "Cumberland Gap," which sounds happy, but is instead a depressing tale of failure for a young miner who just drinks his pains away and can't figure out how to escape the shit of life. If you ignore the lyrics, its a snappy rock song, but man, if you listen to the words, its sad as all living hell. "As soon as the sun goes down, I find my way to the Mustang Lounge, And if you don't sit facing the window, You could be in any town. Maybe the Cumberland Gap just swallows you whole..." I mean, there is damn song called "Anxiety" on here that talks about being in constant pain - "I can't enjoy a goddamn thing...". Lord have mercy, this is some dark shit.
The top track is another real uplifter, this time called "If We Were Vampires," which has 3.6 million streams.
I mean, damn, Jason. Give me a break here! The opening verse is about how great his love is, and then he hits you with this chorus of the bleak, horrible reality that your loved ones are going to die: "It's knowing that this can't go on forever, Likely one of us will have to spend some days alone, Maybe we'll get forty years together, But one day I'll be gone, Or one day you'll be gone." Fuuuuuuuuck, man. I get it, the reason that his love is so powerful is because he understands the transient nature of it, and the need to work hard at it while he can, but this tune (and re-reading the lyrics afterwards) hit me like a sack of bricks. Thanks for the daily dose of tears.
I honestly can't think of an album like this. Is there another album that is so brutally honest and crushingly sad? I mean, I know an album might have a song - "Everybody Hurts" or "Last Kiss" or "Tears in Heaven" or "He Stopped Loving Her Today" or "Travellin' Soldier" or "Angry All the Time" - but to have a rapid fire destruction of emotions like this for a sustained, multi-song stretch? Ugh. Maybe an album by the Smiths? Beck's Sea Change is melancholy, but nothing like this. I don't know, man. I really like this album for being so damn legitimate. And the sound is great, these songs are fun to hear. But man, give this guy a hug or something. I can't shake it from my mind.
Jason Isbell - Live from the Ryman. 2018. The more I think about Isbell's last album, the more I think that I didn't give it enough credit. I hear "If We Were Vampires" on the radio from time to time, and it kicks me in the stomach with the same ferocity each time. It is a freaking amazing song. I can't think of anything that better captures the joy and sadness of truly loving someone. Devastatingly good tune. And I love songs that tell a good story or paint a good picture, and those tunes did that in spades. "Cumberland Gap," "Super 8," or "24 Frames," they all do that on this live album. It's damn good.
Not the live version from this album, but a live version nonetheless, so you'll get the feeling. I'm sure they've sung that song together 400 times, but the idea of the two of them, a married couple, singing that song together about maybe getting 40 years together before one of them dies alone. FUUUDGE. This is a good album.
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - Reunions. 2020. I'm growing more disappointed in myself for that review I did of his last album, where I let the depressing subject matter guide my thoughts to a less than excited review. Because now I have seen the light, and quite frankly, if I could be any artist of the planet right now, it would be Isbell. He has rocking tunes ("Be Afraid"), he has gentle tunes ("Only Children"), hell, he has one that sounds like the accidentally covered a Dire Straits song ("Running With Our Eyes Closed"). And more importantly that the genres that he touches, which fit right up one of my alleys, is the fact that he writes lyrics that are fantastic. He is insightful, touching, thoughtful, funny, and wrings imagery out of words like few do in popular music right now. For me to dismiss the last album because of its bummer vibe was foolish, and I hereby take it back. "If We Were Vampires" (from that album) is an absolute stone cold classic that gets my tears ducts lubed up by the second chorus. Anywhoo, this album is also very good. The top track with 1.8 million streams is "Be Afraid."
Weird thing about that song, I read in the Chronicle that KUTX had taken it out of the rotation during the pandemic lockdown thing, and then some people got pissed off that they were removing the song because of people's feelings. Everything is so damn weird right now, and everyone gets offended by everything. So annoying. Anyway, I don't think these lyrics are especially painful or anything, I guess it was just to avoid having people hear that they should be afraid (even if the next lyric is to "do it anyway").
"It Gets Easier" is a wild song, about his struggles with alcoholism, and some dreams he still has about drinking. The chorus starts "It gets easier, but it never gets easy." Which I expect is a very true thing, about any addiction. The other killer line in there is about his daughter's eyes when she's ashamed of her dad. Ooof. Anyway, this sort of songwriting, where you can see the scene and feel the emotions of it all, is so good. It's just a necessary thing we need in the world, versus a rapper taking four seconds to figure out that bitch rhymes with bitch. I've been going back to this album again and again while on lockdown here at the house, and its super good.
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - Georgia Blue. 2021. I love many things about this album. If you missed the impetus for its creation, Jason Isbell tweeted that if the Georgia electorate would "go blue," and elect the two Democrats running for Senator in 2020, then he would make an album of exclusively Georgia cover songs as a thank you. So, for one, I love that this is like the payout from a bet made to no one in particular. Second, I love the fact that it includes not one, but two R.E.M. songs. Being that they are my favorite band (despite no longer existing), I am a big fan of the fact that they get the bigger/better treatment on this album of classic Georgia songs. I also really like the education I've received here. If you would have asked me beforehand to name Georgia bands/artists, I would have named R.E.M., Black Crowes, B 52s, and the Indigo Girls, before having to resort to rap artists for the next 58 that I know. But now I know that James Brown, Otis Redding, and Gladys Knight & the Pips are also from Georgia. Those are some big time artists to claim for that state! I also should have remembered the Allman Brothers when thinking through who was from Georgia. I'm bummed that the B-52s didn't make the list of cover tracks on here! Finally, I love the collaborators they get involved here. Brandi Carlile singing the Indigo Girls, Chris Thile doing his mandolin thing on "Nightswimming," and several of the others who I don't know sound great. I think next time he needs to do one where they do these rock and roll renditions of the rappers though. Americana T.I., Outkast, Future, Ludacris, etc. etc. would be amazing. The top track is the other R.E.M. tune - "Driver 8" with 490k streams. Love it.
Great cover. I love how the change in vocals bring out the actual lyrics in a way that they are not so obvious in the original, so that I can feel foolish for all of the incorrect lyrics I memorized when I was eight. Also, the Allman Brothers tune is a hot damn jam. Inject it into my veins. If I'm going to gripe at any of this, I'd say that increasing the speed of "Nightswimming" is a mistake to me. And again, no B-52's is lame. Gimme "Rock Lobster" and make weird dolphin noises immediately. Fun disc, will keep it.
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - Weathervanes. 2023. I am coming around to the idea that Isbell is the best songwriter around right now. I deeply love some of his older songs like "If We Were Vampires" and "Elephant," and this album has a few that tell exquisitely crafted stories like that. "King of Oklahoma" is super good - the story of a guy with a nice married life and a good job who gets hurt while doing something stupid on the job (pissing off a 20 foot ladder), gets hooked on pills and behind on bills, and is having to resort to theft to get his fix. The chorus says so much: "She used to wake me up with coffee every morning/ And I'd hear her homemade house shoes slide across the floor/ And she used to make me feel like the king of Oklahoma/ But nothing makes me feel like much of nothing anymore." "Death Wish" and "Cast Iron Skillet" are also great stuff. That first one opens the album and has the most streams with 3.1 million. Criminally understreamed album.
Thankfully not a story that I can associate with, but damn, man. Thorny lyrics. "Middle of the Morning" sounds like "Into the Mystic" at the start. The lyrics to "Cast Iron Skillet" will crush you if you read through them - pieces of fatherly advice interspersed with details of a stabbing of an old friend and a dad who disowned his daughter for falling in love with a black guy. "When We Were Close" is also a jam, and it makes me wonder what the story is behind it - is this something about his time in the Drive By Truckers? Or is it all fictional? Let's find out? Oh damn, this is about his relationship with Justin Townes Earle, Steve Earle's son, who died of an accidental drug overdose in 2020. When you hear it that way, it is a completely different song. Also, this line is good Goddamn damn: “I saw a picture of you laughing with your child and I hope she will remember how you smiled. But she probably wasn't old enough the night somebody sold you stuff that left you on the bathroom tiles…” Fuuuuuuuck. Wild song, because it is looking at Earle with sincere tenderness and sadness, while the tune behind it is pretty rockin'. Absolutely going to keep listening to this disc. Great stuff.
Jason Isbell - Foxes in the Snow. 2025. I ran through this album several times on headphones while flying to Nashville over the weekend, and I have to say that a close and careful listen like that makes a difference. This is the semi-traditional acoustic-and-solo-and-introspective-post-divorce-album. Loads of those out there in the cannon, but apparently Isbell divorced Amanda Shires and then went in the studio for five days to bang out another set of deeply confessional tunes about hard times and mistakes made and the future that you can build by pushing through. I love it.
The opening track is the most popular, because it was the first single, and it starts with only a cappella and then adds in a light guitar picking. Another good one in here is "Don't Be Tough," which is like a list of advice topics you should give your kids. "Crimson and Clay" is also great, because you get the idea that he is turning back to what made him to figure out where to go next (and that happens to be the red clay of Alabama). I also have to call out the line in that one talking about a little noose in a locker and brown eyes crying in the hall. A tiny couplet in the song and yet you can see it all and feel the pain with just those two lines. The second-biggest streamer is the title track, and I vote you listen to that one. 817k streams.
Excellent guitar. As we wandered around Nashville after listening to this disc on the plane, this is the one that kept popping into my head, either the melody or random snippets of the lyrics. "falls asleep inside my head, seems so easy" is a lovely little snip. "Ride to Robert's" is so nice too, not only the active picking, but the story he is telling and the detail about Tennessee and Nashville and his love. He gets into hard subjects here too, his sobriety, his poor behavior in the past - he bares his soul for all to see. "Gravelweed" and "Eileen" are great with that. But that level of candor and authenticity makes this feel better than most lyrics. I love the idea of the goodbye note that he finds behind a bed, thinking that no note was left for years, only to have the goodbye note crap in his Cheerios with a pithy saying.
By the way, I read an interview with him about the final song, which he wrote for his little brother's first dance at his wedding. Pretty funny: "A: I wrote [that song] for my little brother and his wife when they got married. She came to me and asked if I would write them a first dance song. Nobody’s ever asked me that before and I thought, that’s so bold. But since you asked, I’m going to do it. ... Q: That was incredibly brave of your brother and now sister-in-law. You’ve very good at writing sad songs. A: I know. She could have gotten herself in a bind with that if I’d written a traditional song of my own. It would have been bad. Q: Did they hear the song before you sang it on their wedding day? A: No. Nobody did. I just got up and sang it while they were dancing their first dance. I wasn’t gonna get halfway through the song and be like, “and then she died of cancer.” [Laughs.] But if anybody ever asks me to do that again though, it’s fair game. I played along the first time. This time, I’m pulling some s–t. " Love that.
Excellent disc that I will keep spinning for a long time.
Jesse Welles
One Liner: Some of the formative music of my teenage years
Wikipedia Genre: rock, folk, folk punk
Home: Ozark, Arkansas
Day: Sunday
Wikipedia Genre: rock, folk, folk punk
Home: Ozark, Arkansas
Day: Sunday
Thoughts: I don't know who this is before trying it out, but they'd better be freaking amazing to be on the same line as this murderer's row of good shizz.
Real name is Jesse Allen Breckenridge Wells, and he originally performed as Jeh Sea Wells, then as the front-man of the bands Dead Indian, Cosmic-American, and Welles. Wait, I remember Welles. They came to ACL a long time ago, but I really liked their brand of psych rock. "Are You Feeling Like Me" was a jam.
But now, he is a completely different brand of fella. This should be fun: "In 2024, Welles garnered attention on social media for writing and performing folk protest songs, including "The Poor", "Cancer", "The Olympics", "United Health", "Join ICE", and "War Isn't Murder", a track about the Gaza war." I can't wait to hear "United Health" rail on the man! It is apparently appreciated by the Man, though, as he received four nominations for the 2026 Grammy Awards. Dave Matthews introduced him at Farm Aid as "one of the best songwriters I've ever heard in my life." Which is high praise. I wonder if Dave has heard Jason Isbell?
Holy shit. OK, this is awesome. You can listen to it and tell what he is saying because his lyrics are pretty clear, but here are the lyrics to "Join ICE."
[Verse 1]
Well, if you're lookin' for purpose in the current circus
If you're seekin' respect and attention
If you're in need of a gig that'll make you feel big
Come with me and put some folks in detention
[Verse 2]
Just last week was kind of tough, I put a kid in cuffs
I zip-tied a lady to a van
We can sneak around town, hunt workin' folks down
I hear they got a great benefit plan
[Chorus]
Join ICE, boy, ain't it nice?
Join ICE, take my advice
If you're lackin' control and authority
Come with me and hunt down minorities
Join ICE
[Verse 3]
Well, I failed the academy, the cops weren't havin' me
The Army didn't sound that fun
So I found me a paramilitary operation
That was keen to hand me a gun
[Verse 4]
I got picked on at school, I never felt that cool
There's a hole in my soul that just a-rages
All the ladies turned me down, and I felt like a clown
But will you look at me now, I'm puttin' folks in cages
[Chorus]
At ICE, we're respectin' power
Join ICE, I hear they got great hours
There's a sign-on bonus of 50 grand
They're in need of you needin' to feel like a man
Join ICE
The rest of these tunes are similar - basic little pluckin' ditties with him singing pointed lyrics about why our system sucks. "The Poor" has great lyrics too. I'd absolutely go watch this guy play.
