Jason Isbell –Something More Than Free (Southeastern)
With plenty of expectations riding on the follow-up to 2013’s critically acclaimed commercial breakthrough Southeastern, it would be understandable if Jason Isbell were to fall short. His 2015 outing instead validates his being a world-class talent with a sure-handed ability to create loads of rich, character-driven fare. With fiddle-playing spouse Amanda Shires helping out with the musical heavy lifting, Isbell kicks everything off with “If It Takes a Lifetime,” a cavalier ditty about a recovering alcoholic working on sobriety that’s buttressed by rich harmonies and a solid twang. From here, the Alabama native never wavers, revisiting an old girlfriend knee-deep in bad life choices (a soaring “The Life You Choose”), tries to emerge from emotional wreckage (the stark “Speed Trap Town”) and uses the epic string-soaked “Children of Children” to address the sorrow of teen pregnancy with couplets like, “Seventeen ain’t old enough to reason with the pain/ How could we expect the two to stay in love/ When neither knew the meaning of the difference between sacred and profane.” Success seemingly suits Jason Isbell just fine.
Jason Isbell: Return Of The Master Lyricist
