The Shires album is her best.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 5 August 2022 09:35 (one year ago) link
Really good Shires interview (w music); she's up front about how much of the new one came from marital trouble, also some family history, incl. what she found out a couple years ago---might be more writing coming from how that fits and is still speculative, to a degree (suitable for story-song): https://www.npr.org/2022/09/07/1121465481/amanda-shires-highwomen-fiddle-jason-isbell-take-it-like-a-man
― dow, Thursday, 8 September 2022 01:21 (one year ago) link
Iirc Isbell talked a bit about possibly the same problems, maybe from a different perspective, when he was promoting his most recent record, too. Like this one:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/arts/music/jason-isbell-reunions.html(Headline "Jason Isbell, Self-Doubt and the Album That Tested His Marriage.")
He pushed everyone away — including his wife.“He was impossible,” Shires said. “It was like he wanted help but didn’t want help.” Tension between the two simmered. At one point, recording at the legendary RCA Studio A in Nashville with his longtime producer, Dave Cobb, Isbell complained that Shires’s fiddle was too loud. “I was like, ‘Holy Christ! It’s acoustic. I can’t make it any quieter,’” she said.The situation escalated, and Shires felt belittled. “I want him to make the best art he can but not at the expense of making me feel less,” she said. She decided to move into a hotel. “I needed space because lines were getting crossed,” she said.“There is a constant progression for me to try to take my own experience out of the work,” Isbell said. “It’s what separates pros from beginners.”Isbell recognized his marriage was in trouble but remained single-mindedly focused on the album. After 10 days at Nashville’s Thompson Hotel, Shires returned home, but hostilities lingered. “At one point, I said, ‘It’d be easier if somebody had cheated,’” said Isbell. “Then we could say, ‘You did this,’ or ‘I did this, and ‘Somebody needs to be real sorry.’ But it was more like, ‘We don’t know each other right now. We’re not able to speak the same language.’”These weren’t splashy tabloid problems, they were the kinds of nebulous frustrations and quiet indignities that chip away at many marriages. “I just had faith that eventually he’d come to the realization that as good of a father and a person as he is, even not drinking, you can still inflict harm onto people,” said Shires. As Isbell acknowledged, “It took a couple months until I wrapped my head all the way around it.”
“He was impossible,” Shires said. “It was like he wanted help but didn’t want help.” Tension between the two simmered. At one point, recording at the legendary RCA Studio A in Nashville with his longtime producer, Dave Cobb, Isbell complained that Shires’s fiddle was too loud. “I was like, ‘Holy Christ! It’s acoustic. I can’t make it any quieter,’” she said.
The situation escalated, and Shires felt belittled. “I want him to make the best art he can but not at the expense of making me feel less,” she said. She decided to move into a hotel. “I needed space because lines were getting crossed,” she said.
“There is a constant progression for me to try to take my own experience out of the work,” Isbell said. “It’s what separates pros from beginners.”
Isbell recognized his marriage was in trouble but remained single-mindedly focused on the album. After 10 days at Nashville’s Thompson Hotel, Shires returned home, but hostilities lingered. “At one point, I said, ‘It’d be easier if somebody had cheated,’” said Isbell. “Then we could say, ‘You did this,’ or ‘I did this, and ‘Somebody needs to be real sorry.’ But it was more like, ‘We don’t know each other right now. We’re not able to speak the same language.’”
These weren’t splashy tabloid problems, they were the kinds of nebulous frustrations and quiet indignities that chip away at many marriages. “I just had faith that eventually he’d come to the realization that as good of a father and a person as he is, even not drinking, you can still inflict harm onto people,” said Shires. As Isbell acknowledged, “It took a couple months until I wrapped my head all the way around it.”
I appreciate it stressing that they were "the kinds of nebulous frustrations and quiet indignities that chip away at many marriages," which is appropriately enough to Isbell a pretty literary way to put it. He seems like a pretty compulsively honest guy, but the article notes that he can also be hard to read. It also notes that none of the domestic stuff made it into his record, though clearly that wasn't the case for Shires.
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 8 September 2022 02:02 (one year ago) link
Yeah, reading that reminded me of her use of "nebulous" on Fresh Air---sounds like they were compatibly incompatible, as married writers up in the air, desperadoes under the eaves etc.:
SHIRES: So I thought if I could write a song with my feelings in it, that it might bring him around to the walls that aren't really walls that we put ourselves behind sometimes. And in this certain period of time, there was a lot. And then coupled with the pandemic and all that, he was on self-preservation mode, and I was too. But anyway - so I went and I sat down in my barn of internal wandering. And this is after some kind of nebulous argument. And I wrote "Fault Lines" and then I texted it to him, just like you'd imagine. I said, I just wrote this song. And then in my mind I thought, well, if he couldn't hear the frequency of my voice before, maybe he could hear it through music, you know? And one day, we wound up in the studio, and we cut the song. And after we recorded it, he said, that's a really good song. And I said, that's all you have to say?(LAUGHTER)
(LAUGHTER)
Which relates to:
― dow, Thursday, 8 September 2022 02:10 (one year ago) link
Just saw both of his shows here. He's a great singer-songwriter, of course, and a great guitar player, but boy is his band good, too. They ended with a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh, Well" that more than did it justice. Also did a couple of his Truckers song, and their version of "Never Gonna Change" was absolutely on fire. Made me miss the presence of his songs in Truckers sets, but ... oh, well.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 24 September 2022 03:46 (one year ago) link
yeah otm his band is so awesome
― terminators of endearment (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 24 September 2022 04:25 (one year ago) link
I remember when this all came together on twitter, Paula mentioning in an interview that she was really into Isbell and John Paul White, Isbell reading and then retweeting it and roping JPW into the mix. Can't find the original series of tweets now, but it was sometime early in the pandemic. Anyway, here's the finished product and it's pretty nice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sgCPuY1bik
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Saturday, 24 September 2022 05:02 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op-EEnArgqc
― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 22 March 2023 18:09 (one year ago) link
(New album imminent, too.)
Is he wearing a Fever Ray t-shirt? If so, respect
― Paul Ponzi, Wednesday, 22 March 2023 19:23 (one year ago) link
I dreaded reading this, but couldn't look away
Past Drinking and Near Divorce: 8 Revelations in Jason Isbell’s New HBO DocumentaryJason Isbell: Running with Our Eyes Closed offers an unflinching look at the intersection of the songwriter's personal and creative lives
― dow, Friday, 7 April 2023 01:07 (one year ago) link
Yeah.
― Beatles in My Passway (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 7 April 2023 01:26 (one year ago) link
My marriage left me with plenty of heavy trauma that I’m still working through after all these years and I’ll not be watching the doc anytime soon. I’m sure it’s truly great and poignant and inspiring and I genuinely wish everyone well— Shonna Tucker (@ShonnaTucker) April 7, 2023
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 8 April 2023 13:27 (one year ago) link
For the record, I knew nothing of this movie until I saw the trailer for it last week here on Twitter. I know it’s not about me, but a heads up would’ve been nice. I appreciate all of your love and support so much ♥️ Now back to donkey tweets! https://t.co/W2PjkoukGs— Shonna Tucker (@ShonnaTucker) April 8, 2023
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 8 April 2023 13:29 (one year ago) link
I haven't had a chance to see the doc yet, does it address him and her? It's a bit surprising she wasn't told it was on its way, because I thought they were still friends. Also maybe surprised that Sam Jones didn't reach out to her for an interview at all, she's part of the story and thematically relevant, as I understand it.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 8 April 2023 14:00 (one year ago) link
it does address their marriage, but not for v long and not in-depth
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 8 April 2023 14:19 (one year ago) link
they don’t talk in depth about the marriage but what they do say makes it clear they went through some dark shit & i think it does an ok job of admitting that it happened without speaking for her too much if that makes sense but the stuff about his & amanda’s early relationship gets v dark. i was kinda surprised they went there the doc includes interviews w both of his parents, patterson hood, 400 unit (his band) and his manager, and that’s it. the circle is pretty smallish
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 8 April 2023 15:05 (one year ago) link
I've known his manager for a long time, but haven't been in contact. I should shoot her a line!
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 8 April 2023 15:33 (one year ago) link
Jason I love you but mounting a 4038 ribbon mic sideways like that means the ribbon is under lateral stress, likely to distend in the magnetic gap, potentially rubbing against the armature but certainly not operating in its linear range. Please keep ribbons in the vertical plane. https://t.co/LJDseAkwXF— steve albini (@electricalWSOP) April 8, 2023
― but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 8 April 2023 15:47 (one year ago) link
lool
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 8 April 2023 15:53 (one year ago) link
lol someone in that thread asks rhetorically, "aren't we fans of using equipment wrong to get interesting results?" And Albini's one word response is "no."
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 8 April 2023 16:02 (one year ago) link
we watched the documentary last night i like that the documentary does ultimately seem to represent Isbell & Shires as they are, which is unpretentious & frank can’t fathom what it must be like for married musicians to record together & share a life. the tense moments in the studio shown in the documentary just made me think of how mr veg & i get with each other but multiplying it out with fame livelihood creativity expectation etc like i would last maybe 4 hours at best i have always been a fan of Shires, seen her solo a couple of times, think the world of her music as an artist is her own right - i already had an inkling of her strength but damn the documentary really underscores her strength & emotional intelligence. in conversation she distinguishes between Jason and addiction as two separate forces. that made me love her a lot because obviously that is a level of understanding that is not acquired easily & in her case obviously painfully they don’t discuss him at all but for me i couldn’t shake the spectre Justin Townes Earle sort of hanging in the background of both of them during the doc when they spoke about the early days of their relationship & the band before Southeastern.
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 8 April 2023 16:10 (one year ago) link
Shires' album last year was fantastic, loved it.
― the very juice and sperm of kindness. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 8 April 2023 16:15 (one year ago) link
yes! it is fantastic
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 8 April 2023 16:20 (one year ago) link
and i don’t think i will hear “Cover Me Up” the same way again after she talks about it in the doc
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 8 April 2023 16:22 (one year ago) link
they don’t discuss him at all but for me i couldn’t shake the spectre Justin Townes Earle sort of hanging in the background of both of them during the doc when they spoke about the early days of their relationship & the band before Southeastern.
― dow, Saturday, 8 April 2023 17:49 (one year ago) link
Justin's albums eventually became so weary, so fragile, though still valid/listenable in their own scary terms--but penultimate releases pushed pathos, abjection past that, 'til I was like, "I can't review this, I'm not his shrink!" (This has happened with other artists.) Then he rallied, and the finale was as strong as anything from his first decade, even stronger, building in part on the best bits, the things he'd learned while making even the seemingly weakest albums: The Saint of Lost Causes shines on.
― dow, Saturday, 8 April 2023 18:02 (one year ago) link
It's tough, they clearly have a lot of love and respect for each other but they also seem to put a whole lot of burden on each other as well. Jason's big realization in the documentary is that he's been forcing Amanda to carry around all the baggage of having "saved" him and robbing her of the ability to have her own story because she's already so tied up with his. At the same time, I had a hard time figuring out exactly WHAT they were fighting so much about. For something that purported to show a very warts-and-all picture of their lives, I guess they must have wanted to keep some things behind closed doors because otherwise I don't recall the friction being about more than Jason getting grumpy and anxious and withdrawn when he was making an album?
― Evans on Hammond (evol j), Monday, 10 April 2023 18:27 (one year ago) link
Also see upthread re an NYTimes article, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/arts/music/jason-isbell-reunions.html(Headline "Jason Isbell, Self-Doubt and the Album That Tested His Marriage.") and her Fresh Air interview, still in FA archive:
SHIRES: So I thought if I could write a song with my feelings in it, that it might bring him around to the walls that aren't really walls that we put ourselves behind sometimes. And in this certain period of time, there was a lot. And then coupled with the pandemic and all that, he was on self-preservation mode, and I was too. But anyway - so I went and I sat down in my barn of internal wandering. And this is after some kind of nebulous argument. And I wrote "Fault Lines" and then I texted it to him, just like you'd imagine. I said, I just wrote this song. And then in my mind I thought, well, if he couldn't hear the frequency of my voice before, maybe he could hear it through music, you know? And one day, we wound up in the studio, and we cut the song. And after we recorded it, he said, that's a really good song. And I said, that's all you have to say?(LAUGHTER)Which relates to:“There is a constant progression for me to try to take my own experience out of the work,” Isbell said. “It’s what separates pros from beginners.”
― dow, Monday, 10 April 2023 18:38 (one year ago) link
I'm so glad this guy finally figured it all out, because the new one is another keeper.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 9 June 2023 22:13 (one year ago) link
i haven’t listened to it all yet but “When We Were Close” absolutely destroyed me,
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 9 June 2023 22:20 (one year ago) link
That one is as good as any he did with the Truckers, and/or most Tom Petty songs. It's about Justin Townes Earle, right?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 9 June 2023 22:39 (one year ago) link
yep, also the song references Rex’s Blues, a Townes Van Zandt song, and also Texas Blues, a steve earle tribute to the townes song they played together a lot in isbell’s “bad old days” - i think Super 8 Motel from Southeastern was referencing the an instance of the worst of those times iirc too? amanda was very close to jTE too for a long time, she played with him a lot & that may be how him & jason metbut i think isbell had a lot of intense drinking drug partying associations w JTE that burned a lot more of his bridges with him -their friendship ended pretty abruptly & isbell hasn’t talked much about it but i am speculating wildly idk for sure
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 9 June 2023 23:00 (one year ago) link
and yeah - to me that track in particular sounds like it’s straight off his first solo album right down to the guitar solo
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 9 June 2023 23:02 (one year ago) link
Iirc Isbell said JTE either bought or lent him the suit he wore at his wedding, so they must have been pretty close.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 9 June 2023 23:04 (one year ago) link
yep listening to the album tonight & it’s maybe my new favoritemiddle of the morning & cast iron skillet - he’s in peak form, jesus
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 10 June 2023 03:44 (one year ago) link
shit, white beretta too and mileswowee wow
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 10 June 2023 04:04 (one year ago) link
Reminds me---why did this have to wait for The Fine Print? Too blunt, mebbe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvjQFwxQHI4
― dow, Monday, 12 June 2023 03:42 (one year ago) link
"cast iron skillet," that's peak isbell right there. "when we were close" is devastating too, the guitar solo is short but possibly my favorite on the album. also love the two crazy horse jams that close out the record
― ludicrously capacious bag (voodoo chili), Monday, 12 June 2023 17:08 (one year ago) link
Iirc Isbell said JTE either bought or lent him the suit he wore at his wedding, so they must have been pretty close.― Josh in Chicago, Friday, June 9, 2023 6:04 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, June 9, 2023 6:04 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink
Random fan story: about 13 or 14 years ago give or take some friends and I got tix to see Isbell and JTE (opening) at the Double Door (RIP), and on the day of the concert went to grab lunch. We were walking down Milwaukee past the venue and I casually ask one of them, "What time is the show tonight?," and Isbell sticks his head out of the back of his van next to me and yells, "Justin, the show's at 8 tonight, right?," and there's Justin on my right carrying an amp or something, "Yep." We said a quick thank you and shuffled on, then had a blast that night.
Isbell's become quite the legend in Americana, getting tweeted by Zach Bryan as his songwriting idol and the like; weird to remember that just a little over a decade ago he was doing miles and unloading his own gear with JTE.
― Indexed, Monday, 12 June 2023 18:02 (one year ago) link
I also love that he continues doubling down on actively chasing the bigots, homophobes and transphobes out of his audience. I know this isn't easy for every artist to do, but goddamn it gives me hope to see him not give one flying fuck about losing that kind of "fan".
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 12 June 2023 18:04 (one year ago) link
yeah i love that too
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 12 June 2023 18:38 (one year ago) link
One of the many things I love about Isbell is that, like the Truckers, he has put in the miles. He's played here everywhere from the Beat Kitchen to minor league fields. And yeah, he does not give a fuck about losing fans. Not that he seems to be doing so. Like Springsteen or Rage Against the Machine, clearly the assholes just hold their collective noses and grumble online.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 12 June 2023 19:20 (one year ago) link
I haven't listened to the last few albums all that much, but whenever one of his songs comes on WXPN I'm like "Holy shit."
― INDEPENDENTS DAY BY STEVEN SPILBERG (President Keyes), Monday, 12 June 2023 19:26 (one year ago) link
If you check out his Twitter account, maybe yesterday he was answering fan questions more or less in real time about what equipment was used on each song. That dude has an incredible array of vintage apps and instruments, and unlike most collectors, I suspect, he knows exactly what to do with it all.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 12 June 2023 23:55 (one year ago) link
He posted a new Dumble on Instagram recently - no idea what those are going for these days but he's definitely living the middle-aged guitar nerd dream.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Tuesday, 13 June 2023 01:22 (one year ago) link
somebody should tell him about the ILX thread
― budo jeru, Tuesday, 13 June 2023 01:40 (one year ago) link
Nah, he doesn't appear to own a single Jazzmaster or Jaguar.
― papal hotwife (milo z), Tuesday, 13 June 2023 01:52 (one year ago) link
To my ears he reminds me of John Mellencamp: "good" politics, excellent bandleader, tunes that clunk along in their sincerity. I like this album, but I can't imagine listening to "Save the World" again despite agreeing with every comma.
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 June 2023 14:01 (one year ago) link
Coming from one of the biggest ILX Mellencamp boosters, that's high praise!
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 13 June 2023 14:09 (one year ago) link