A resounding fuck you to you and yours as well. 
2 Likes
From a music perspective, you’re full of shit if you don’t think Ryan Adams wasn’t considered a great songwriter. His actions as a person are terrible and inexcusable, and any “regard” was destroyed at his own hands. But from a songwriting perspective, Heartbreaker can hold its own with any Jason Isbell record, and I would bet Isbell would admit that himself. Isbell asked Ryan Adams to produce Southeastern, before Dave Cobb stepped in, but in what is now true to Adams’ illuminated character, he ultimately declined. Isbell speculated that Adams was “intimidated” by the quality of the songs on the demo. With how good Southeastern is, he probably was. Ryan Adams always seemed like kind of a stunted teenager who found himself dealing with adulthood – I think it’s part of what made his brand of angst compelling.
It feels disingenuous to make your comparison when the mistakes have already been well acknowledged. No one is saying they’re on the same footing at all as people.
I had to take a years-long break from Ryan Adams and only recently checked out some of his recent output.
I still can’t bring myself to really enjoy him anymore, but this newer tune put a lump in my throat. Wow.
1 Like
He brought Ryan Adams up in terms of Jason not being a role model, not their musical abilities. As if Isbell alienating Ryan fucking Adams should be seen as a some black mark against Isabell’s character
1 Like
Frankly, everything since Prisoner has been rather bad in comparison to everything up to that point. I mean, Jesus – coming back from a New York Times exposé that shows the world exactly how you’ve destroyed your reputation has to be rough. But again, nobody’s fault but his. He should be afforded the chance to grow and make amends for his mistakes. I hope he uses it wisely.
That’s a fair point. I took issue with that bit, as well. Pardon. The train of thought in getting to your response got lost in the shuffle, so I agree. Human existence fucking complicated.
2 Likes
@KVV Brilliant as always. Question for the site itself - is it possible to set up an email notification when there’s new content posted? I just read this and realized there were three or four articles I had yet to read, and I thought I checked fairly often. Most sites have something like this so I assume @McSchvantz can make this happen fairly easily, and I do think it would be well utilized.
4 Likes
I think they all get linked in the newsletter, which I know isn’t specifically what you’re asking for, but it’s like a halfway compromise
1 Like
There were rss feeds set up that you can use in an rss reader to automatically get them pushed there.
3 Likes
I’ve been fascinated by this thread - not because I am a a huge Isabell fan (I enjoy a lot of his songs, but I’ve come to him lately and don’t have the emotional attachment to him and his music that so many of you have), but the conversation is interesting to me on a philosophical level regarding the meaning of songs to both the fans and the artists.
The older I get, the more I find myself actually encountering songs in a new way and finding either deeper or different meaning to them than what I had assigned to them previously. I think that’s natural - we are the sum of our experiences. Our life experiences change and so our understanding and perspective about a lot of things will change over time.
What’s even more interesting to me is how the artists perception about the meaning of the song might change and if/how that change is incorporated into their decision to perform the song and how they perform the song.
A few months ago I was watching the U2 documentary on Disney + and if you can get past Bono being Bono there were some really good insights into how he views some songs as finished and other songs as not finished and that over time he comes back to them and tinkers with the lyrics to try to perfect them. In that special he played an updated version of Sunday Bloody Sunday and said that he wouldn’t have been capable of writing that version of the song in the 1980’s.
The push and pull between singer/songwriter and showman must be difficult for some artists to reconcile when there is a song so personal to them (CMU for example) and then their life changes. Do you still play the song? If you play it, can you tap into the emotions of if without wrecking yourself if the emotions of it bring up painful memories and wounds? Can you find some new meaning to the lyrics?
I doubt I am making much sense or adding anything insightful to the conversation - but I wanted to say that it’s been thought provoking for me and thanks to everyone for their thoughts.
11 Likes
That’s good to know. I was hoping for an email notification since I don’t use an RSS Reader anymore (honestly gobsmacked they still exist, I stopped using them long ago). No worries I can still pop over and see what I’ve missed.
This makes sense. With all art, the audience completes the work.
Just the other day, I was driving with my daughter (she’ll be 2 in April) and the song Drive by the Cars came on.
Now the song is about a man watching a woman hit the skids in her life and trying to reach out to her as she pushes people away, but it tapped into these feelings of worry I have about being an older dad.
I’m over forty. She’s not yet two. There’s going to be a time where she’s still relatively young and I won’t be around. Who’s going to drive her home? Who’s going to be there for her?
5 Likes
Great piece @KVV lots to think about & definitely gonna need to reread after making my way through this unexpected high crime neighborhood of a thread.
I remember when some of the DBT went through divorces way back when and the musical output that followed. Looking forward to the next record from Jason. Crappy shit happening has always inspired genius with these fellas. Also continue to pray for a full on DBT with Isbell reunion show.
3 Likes
I do have some friends with the same concerns over Cover Me Up at every show thing with Jason. I think, if I can relay it properly, is that we all grew up in a scene where bands played different setlists every night and you didn’t repeat songs night to night once your repertoire was large enough. And we went to go see those bands repeatedly because of it. DBT & Jason kinda come from that scene but they also have more “hits” than those other bands. So there’s gonna be a friction caused by his success and a differing setlist approach with a big chunk of some folks that have been listening to them for a long time.
That said I will go see Jason Isbell or DBT whenever they are within hundreds of miles of me and would do multiple nights and do not give a shit what they play I love it all.
7 Likes
I’m in the camp of letting artists play whatever the hell songs they want. I saw him a couple nights after Tom Petty passed and he played American Girl to close his set out. He didn’t play Traveling Alone, and that seemed fine by everyone. I’m gonna let the artist be the artist I guess.
5 Likes
Just a lovely time in Philly tonight.
Also Jason single handedly trying to bring back the chain wallet.
28 Likes
Isbell in Philly was great. You could tell he was battling with his voice and he still powered through, never mentioned it. Just a pro.
As for KVV, the biggest trick @KVV pulled was convincing Soly, Tron and Erin to see Drive-By Truckers with me and Casey in Baltimore after a night at the BMW Champs back in 2021.
Singing “Ronnie and Neil” and “Zip City” together while drinking Natty Bo’s. Highly recommend!
17 Likes
Wait, I need you tell me this story. I miss your face.
Thanks to @mshriver3, by way of connect from @BrooklynAJ and @Double_Bogey_Dave, I had the good fortune to see last night’s show at Radio City. JI was fighting the voice again, hard to tell exactly what was happening because some songs there was no problem. Something is in the air, this show was all about making due with what you have, because Aimee Mann’s drummer went to the hospital and she and her band played a great set sans drums.
Shoutout @eben, wish we could have found seats near each other.
5 Likes
Incredible read KVV! Reading this made me understand what I could not put into words for so many years when listening to Joni Mitchell’s remake of Both Sides Now.
3 Likes