Title: Southeastern
Artiste: Jason Isbell
Genre: Alt-Country
Familiarity: Zero. Apparently he's the lead singer with Drive-by Truckers. Don't know them either.
1. Cover me up: Nice gentle acoustic, pedal steel coming in. He has a strong voice, takes you a little by surprise when he shouts the lyric. I like the picture it paints of a simple life, particularly when he sings “It's cold in this house and I ain't going out to chop wood.” Pedal steel solo is great; don't often hear that.
2. Stockholm: More uptempo, nice rolling guitar and there's a female vocal in there too. Kim Richey apparently. This track reminds me of someone, think it may be David Gray. Something about the structure of the song.
3. Travelling alone: Back to slow tempo, with acoustic and violin, both they and the female vocals this time supplied by Amanda Shires, who apparently is part of his band, the 400 Unit, and is now his wife. Actually it's a mid-pacer, very nice.
4. Elephant: A pretty bitter song, with a sharp vocal. I'm not sure how I feel about this one.
5. Flying over water: Lot of punch and energy in this. Like this one a lot. Another good guitar solo, though it's a normal electric one this time.
6. Different days: This reminds me of something Nanci Griffith would write. Very acoustic and pleasant.
7. Live oak: Is this an
acapella song? Well no, but for a few lines it is. Shows how strong his voice is. Very touching lyric.
8. Songs that she sang in the shower: Really like the guitar riff here. Quite an emotional song, very well written. More violin, fits in well.
9. New South Wales: Bouncy and uptempo but with a sort of folky feel, some great violin/fiddle.
10. Super 8: Kicking things up with a real hellraiser that reminds me of Blue Sky Riders. Quite rock and roll really, lots of guitar. Also reminds me of early Steve Earle, especially
Exit 0.
11. Yvette: This is really nice. Given the subject matter it could have been darker than it ended up being, but he did a really good job with balancing it out. Hmm. Kind of a dark message at the end. Did he kill Yvette's father?
12. Relatively easy: Nice uptempo, cheery song
End result: Really accomplished album. Good to see someone who can just take a guitar and a mike and create such a great collection of songs. I know he uses other instruments but the acoustic, homegrown nature of this album is quite refreshing.
So, Love or Hate? An easy
Love here.