Six-time Grammy winner Jason Isbell makes his return to Atlanta with a four-night residency at the Tabernacle March 28-31.
From the small town of Green Hill, Alabama, Isbell has been making music all his life and has become one of the most prominent figures in Americana music. He first gained wider attention as a member of the Athens-based Drive-By Truckers, joining the band in 2001 and recording three albums with them. He contributed the title track to the band’s critically lauded 2003 album “Decoration Day,” his first studio outing with the Truckers.
His songs examine lives and people we don’t get to see. “When I go to write, I’ll make a character and usually there’s quite a bit of myself in that character in that song,” the Nashville, Tennessee-based Isbell said. “I’m a very hopeful person and normally a very happy person, but you have to be able to hold multiple things in your mind at one time.”
Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
His ninth album, “Weathervanes,” won two Grammys at this year’s ceremony: one for best Americana album and another for best Americana song, ”Cast Iron Skillet.”
“This record, in a lot of ways, was about how if you don’t keep yourself emotionally available to the people you care about, and if you get tougher as you get older, the complications that can arise from that and the isolation that you can wind up feeling,” Isbell said.
In describing the powerful ballad “Strawberry Woman,” Isbell evokes Shel Silverstein’s children’s book “The Missing Piece.” “Most people get all choked up at ‘The Giving Tree,’ but ‘The Missing Piece’ is the one that really gets me, because you’re rolling along and part of you is absent and you find one piece that doesn’t fit, and you find another one that doesn’t fit. Then finally the clouds part, and there it is. You find that piece that makes you complete, and then that piece decides they don’t really want to be a piece of you.”
Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
The song, he said, explores relationships, and the personal growth that “can sometimes lead you to those places where you say, I would never do that to someone now. I would never expect somebody to come along and fix me anymore.”
Isbell’s songs also focus heavily on a parent-child dynamic, and he touches on how crucial that relationship is to his songwriting process. “I would like, when I’m an old man, for my children to answer my phone calls,” he said. “And for that to happen, you have to stay aware of your connection to them. And I do. I think about it all the time, and it is going to find its way into these songs.”
Credit: Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Credit: Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Isbell isn’t just a singer-songwriter. He’s also dipped his toe into the acting pool, starring in the Oscar-nominated Martin Scorcese film “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
“It was storm season, and most of that movie was shot outside, so I spent a lot of time dressed up in costume just sitting around,” he said of his time on set.
He used that time to write songs, with one in particular showing the influence of the experience and his interactions with Lily Gladstone, who played Molly in the film. “I didn’t even realize that I was using the names from the movie until I’d already released the song. Lily Gladstone asked me about ‘King of Oklahoma’ and asked, ‘Did you call that character Molly on purpose?’ I said not on purpose, but in some part of my mind, I had been sitting there with her just talking all day. We got along and had some really, really good conversations. ... She noticed it and other people noticed it, and I didn’t even notice it.”
Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Isbell is over the moon about his upcoming residency in Atlanta. “I love Atlanta. I spent so much time there when I was a kid,” he said. “That’s where we would go on vacations, we’d go see the Braves play and go to Six Flags and stay at the Holiday Inn on Powers Ferry Road.”
His connection to the city continued during his years with Drive-By Truckers. “When I joined the Truckers, Atlanta was really the biggest place for us,” he recalled. “We played at the Star Bar and we’d do Bubbapalooza, and I met so many cool people and so many weird indie rednecks that I just immediately fell in love with. Going back to Atlanta feels very much like a hometown show for me.”
His audience has grown to the point where he could easily fill bigger venues, but he likes a more intimate setting. “I would prefer to do residencies in places that are a little bit smaller because I don’t really love how arenas sound,” he said. “I like to play in theaters or big rock clubs like the Tabernacle. It’s just a great place and I’m going to have a bunch of family and friends there, so I’m very excited about that.”
CONCERT PREVIEW
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
8 p.m. March 28-31. $73-$315. The Tabernacle, 152 Luckie St. NW, Atlanta. livenation.com.
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