Friday, February 20, 2009

Ex-Trucker Goes Rogue

Artist: Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit
Album: Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit
Year: 2009
Grade: 3.5 pretzels

Anyone who’s been around me for the past year knows of my undying love for the Drive-By Truckers, Alabama’s finest southern rock band. Since first hearing them just over a year ago, I’ve become totally enamored with their distinct blend of country rock, blistering guitars and southern history. Few bands, from Alabama or otherwise, are as smart, passionate and as viscerally rewarding as the Truckers. As I listened to their records, I began to imagine personas to go with the three different songwriters I heard singing. Patterson Hood, whose songs dominate all of their albums, was the strongest personality, a benevolent-but-belligerent Alabama man with a guitar and a rage against all the negative stereotypes the south is saddled with. Mike Cooley was another character, with his heavy southern twang and confident songs about southern life. But it was the third voice I found the most interesting. It seemed to be the best storyteller, with songs like “The Day John Henry Died” and “Danko/Manuel” using the stories of John Henry or the Band to shine a light on bigger problems and the realities of living in the south. Compared to Hood and Cooley’s gravely drawling, this voice was bright, clear and distinct. This voice belonged to Jason Isbell and right before I started listening to the Truckers, he chose to leave the band.

Isbell’s split from the Drive-By Truckers was a nice, amicable one and the band proved they can manage just fine without him by recording 2008’s stunning Brighter Than Creation’s Dark. However, Isbell’s style of songwriting cannot be replaced in the Truckers. The holy trinity of Hood, Cooley and Isbell worked so well because each complimented each other’s styles, providing different shades to a similar set of experiences, with just enough distinction to keep things interesting. Once Isbell is taken out of the equation, the Truckers sound slightly unbalanced. Hood and Cooley (and, on Creation’s Dark, Isbell’s ex-wife, Shonna Tucker) continue to write great songs, but breaking them up with a few of Isbell’s engaging stories would have been fantastic.

The opposite applies to Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit, Isbell’s second solo album. His songwriting is still in full force, especially on the barn-burning rocker “Good” and the gloriously melancholy “Sunstroke”. Isbell’s got a fantastic ability to work small, minor-key riffs into strong southern rock songs, evoking all the faded glory and contradictory attitudes that define the south. “However Long” charges forward with a chorus of “however long the night, the dawn will break again,” capturing all the optimism of our new Obama-led era. However, as strong as the writing is, the album feels slightly empty without the more direct, confrontational antics of Hood or Cooley. Isbell is a great songwriter, but without his ex-bandmates, he quickly becomes just another southern songwriter, aiming at broad targets and only occasionally hitting anything. In the Drive-By Truckers, Isbell’s songs opened their albums up to encompass the entire south, but here, without his fellow songwriters as a safety net, there’s nothing to keep him tied down to specifics.

Thankfully, Isbell has assembled a very strong band behind him, the 400 Unit. Musically, the songs are strong, clear and punchy, not unlike his work with the Truckers. Isbell and Browan Lollar recreate much of the multi-guitar interplay that the Truckers mastered, while the solid rhythm section grounds everything nicely. You definitely get the impression that these guys could be playing in the corner of some Alabama bar, perfectly confident but not demanding the audience’s attention. Isbell has always been a guy who lets his songs speak for him and he hasn’t changed a thing for this record. Sadly, without his old songwriting partners, it becomes too easy to miss the beauty of his songs. When they aren’t surrounded by contrasting material, they sound like just so many routine country rock songs.

Note: Sadly, none of the songs I referenced have videos on YouTube. However, I did find one decent live clip of a song from this album. To give you a taste of what I’m talking about sounds like, I presentThe Blue.

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