Jason Isbell has returned with his backing band The 400 Unit for his latest album, The Nashville Sound. It was released mid-2017 following a Record Store Day exclusive live EP. Isbell has been enjoying more and more well deserved success with each release and The Nashville Sound continues that trend. The alternative country singer has achieved massive crossover appeal where a lot of other country singers fail. What is he doing differently? Jason Isbell is arguably one of the best songwriters active today. His songs touch on the aspects of humanity everyone deals with, but rarely get put into song, and if they do it’s never as eloquently done as what Isbell writes. Although it’s musically a departure from the more personal sounding Southeastern and Something More Than Free, Isbell uses the opportunity to utilize the full band sound of The 400 Unit. Due to the country tinge, The Nashville Sound won’t be for everybody, but anyone can see the brilliance of the songwriting.

The Nashville Sound opens with “Last Of My Kind”, an acoustic number that sets up where the rest of the album is coming from. He describes the city from the point of view of a displaced country man while asking, “Am I the last of my kind?”. Isbell knows how to paint an image, create sympathy, and tell a story with his lyrics. “Last Of My Kind” musically sounds like the last few albums he’s done. Where The 400 Unit really come into play is on the first of several rock and roll tracks, “Cumberland Gap”. Even when he’s not writing from a personal perspective, such as on “Cumberland Gap”, Isbell’s imagery places you right in the narrator’s dead end town. “Hope The High Road” is the other straight up rock song on the album and, like “Cumberland Gap”, is held up by its lyrics.

The Nashville Sound hits the highs of his previous works, but is filled with a few more valleys. “Tupelo” isn’t a bad song, it’s a typical alt-country ballad, but might’ve been better suited as a B-side. “White Man’s World” is where the album gets political. He sings from his own perspective over the top of a simple, blues riff. It’s a lyrically powerful song as he recognizes his place in society, reminds everyone to not forget the racial tensions of the past, and sings the great line, “We’re all carrying one great burden, sharing our fate”. However, he finishes the most confrontational song on a positive note. Isbell concludes that his faith in the future is kept alive by “…the fire in my little girl’s eyes”, as he sings.

“If We Were Vampires” is a highlight of not only Isbell’s discography, but also of the year. In an age of experimentation it’s the best display of pure songwriting I’ve heard in a long time. “If We Were Vampires” was written with his wife, Amanda Shires, in mind and talks of the time they will and won’t have together. The song is carried by a gently fingerpicked melody that features the softer, more vulnerable side of Isbell’s voice in line with Amanda’s. It’s a rare love song that’s personal, yet universally applicable through the chorus.

“Anxiety”, the only song with a co-write (from Amanda Shires), is the centerfold of the album at nearly seven minutes. Isbell describes the all too common struggle for many people over sprawling southern rock from the excellent 400 Unit. It’s musically a bit clunky but the message comes through clearly. Aside from “Molotov”, which I’d describe similarly to “Tupelo”, and “Something To Love”, which ends the album on an uplifting note, the back half features the standout, “Chaos And Clothes”.

“Chaos And Clothes” documents a man with a tough exterior struggling through a divorce. There’s quite a few not so subtle lyrics that suggest the song is about a good friend of Isbell’s, Ryan Adams. Ryan Adams of course released Prisoner earlier this year, which dealt with his split from Mandy Moore. With references to “A black metal t-shirt” and the more obvious line, “You say love is hell…”, Isbell strongly hints the song is about his old friend. Ryan Adams was one of the people who strongly encouraged Isbell to go to rehab, which famously led to a career highlight, Southeastern. This coincidence hasn’t been addressed by either artist aside from a stray tweet from Ryan Adams, which has since been deleted.

The remarkable thing about Jason Isbell is the power of his songwriting and lyrics. They’re enough to hold up a song that might suffer from a lack of musical uniqueness, such as the two outright rock songs on The Nashville Sound. Johnny Cash has his voice, which if you enjoy, is enough to make any of the hundreds of the songs he recorded tolerable at worst. Isbell has that same blessing through his songwriting.

The Nashville Sound isn’t the strongest album Jason Isbell has released, but it has just as much staying power as anything else he’s written. “If We Were Vampires” is a different kind of love song, one that will never show its age or lose its meaning. “Anxiety” will be all too relatable for many people. “Chaos And Clothes” describes a man struggling with divorce. Jason Isbell has a talent for writing incredibly well worded songs about the darker sides of everyday life. This album doesn’t have the same consistency as Southeastern, but it doesn’t need to. When you buy a Jason Isbell album you know you’re buying something you can come back to over and over again. Every time you’ll find something new to love about it and The Nashville Sound is no different.

Pressing Details: This is the version sold through independent record stores that includes a songbook with extra photos, lyrics, and notes. It was released on black vinyl by Southeastern Records. The record isn’t flawless but the occasional surface noise or sibilance is easy to ignore. The vinyl pressing is definitely an improvement over the digital version. The quieter, more personal, acoustic tracks like “If We Were Vampires” and “Chaos And Clothes” sound extra special. The version with the songbook is definitely worth seeking out. I’ll say it again, Jason Isbell is one of the best songwriters alive today, so a booklet showing more insight into his writing process is interesting to say the least. It also includes funny little notes, such as everyone’s lunch orders one day. There’s some stunning photography and the standard version also includes a lyric sheet. The inner sleeve is a bit of a throwback to those in the 1960s that feature the other releases also available by the artist or label. It’s one of the best packaged releases so far this year and is more than worth picking up for fans of the album.

The Nashville Sound is available on vinyl through Amazon here, or you can try to find the version with the songbook at your local record store.