I think there is nuance in the JTE thing. No song has to be released, but she is clearly mad at Justin and dealing with her grief by lashing out at someone else. She is acting like Jason called up the coroner and asked for details about how Justin died, then put them in a song called “Justin Townes Earle Could Have Been Me” and then tagged her kid on Twitter.
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Yeah fuck her she’s being dramatic!
Eye roll.
2012-2019 grandpajones loved him some Ryan Adams and Jason Isbell. It’s nice to hear other people dropped Ryan like a hot rock when the accusations started happening. That being said, I still miss listening to his music. Also, yes the 1989 album was good but in retrospect a bit icky.
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Again, there is nuance there. Jason has narcissistic tendencies, but he’s also not a monster.
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I thought it was universally accepted that Ryan Adams - despite his talent - is a monstrous shitbag. It’s good he helped Isbell get clean but he’s been accused by numerous folks as being the guy who got many, many people hooked on heroin as well. The lead guitarist of the Strokes, for one. I shed no tears for Ryan Adams.
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Is it likely that Ryan Adams has done scummy things? Yes.
Is it also likely that Ryan Adams has done good things for people? I think also yes.
I think Isbell probably did some bad things too, and probably does less bad things now, but who knows. A lot of people — including his ex-wife — seem to think he was unfaithful (even though he has denied it, at least with his publicist).
People are messy. I’ve done some shit I’m not proud of, though nothing that’s criminal behavior. I understand Ryan’s feelings of betrayal and Jason’s obnoxious self-righteousness. The each made some of my favorite music ever. I think Ryan stopped evolving and just became boring, but that doesn’t make those Whiskeytown records bad.
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I read that book - I’m pretty sure it was the Strokes that felt like Ryan got Albert on heroin. Pretty sure Albert himself didn’t even feel that way, but I’m very curious to hear about the many, many people you mentioned - don’t recall anyone else ever saying that.
I do recall Ryan responding by saying “Who got you hooked on lasagna?” - which was honestly very funny.
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It honestly may have been in the same context and who knows if it was from a reliable source, u guess. So that may be on me for buying it but I’ve also never really heard anyone defend Ryan Adams as being an upstanding good dude to balance it out. Fair point though on your part.
Isbell is playing 2 shows in Durham less than a mile from my place. Going both nights. Very excited about it.
Now that Weathervanes is over a year out from release, hope to see an expansion of the night to night set lists.
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Went to the show last night here in WA and they’re definitely branching out from the Weathervanes setlist. I’d say probably 1/3 Weathervanes, 2/3 other with a heavy dose of songs from Southeastern. Highlight for me was Live Oak about halfway in. I’d never heard that one live before and it was fantastic.
If We Were Vampires is always a bit toned down but even more so this time around. Hoping he reaches back in the catalog a bit more tonight. Sadler is at the top of his game on guitar.
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Hell yeah, Live Oak is one of my favorites
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Saw Isabell open up for ZB at Gillette stadium and it was a tremendous 40 minutes. The crowd, full of 16 year olds, was not really into it. There was a potential thunderstorm that eliminated the opening act and delayed the start of the show, so there was a fiending (read:drunk and impatient) crowd that wanted ZB to start and for Isabell to exit the stage. The wife and I loved every moment of it regardless of the countless “who is this guy”’s from people around us. We had to inform a couple people that Isabell was one of, if not ZB’s no.1 favorite songwriter.
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Different Days > Live Oak is prob my favorite Isbell song pairing on any of his albums. I think Live Oak is one of his best songs.
Speaking of sneaky Isbell songs … I used to pass over Yvette. Then one day I really paid attention to the lyrics …
So I load up my Weatherby, and let out my breath, and I couple with death…
Once I realized what was going on, holy shit. What a song.
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This is the first time I’ve stumbled into this thread. Been a fan of his for years, saw him when he was just a “local” N. Alabama kid playing at Crossroads and other spots around Huntsville. He’s an amazing artist. I remember reading or watching an interview that Paterson Hood did where they asked him about Jason and how long he would be in DBT…he said they knew he would be doing his own thing and explode one day for sure, and he was right. One of the greatest poets ever. I grew up just over the county line from Green Hill, near some of the places that he draws his writing from and knowing of the families and hollers he’s talking about - how he puts that story together and turns it into poetry and music is just amazing. He has said his music isn’t really for casual listening, and I think he’s right. Its intense and often causes much more thought than mindlessly jamming out to other stuff.
I think John Mayer summed it up pretty well, “Jason Isbell is the best lyric writer of my generation. He lives at a level where even great writers can only visit.”
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Isbell is opening for ZB at Cowboy Stadium in 3 weeks. So damn excited to see two of my favorite artists.
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Wife and I were trying to decide between ZB/Isbell in Dallas in august, Tampa in august, or NE in June. We decided NE in June would be the best weather.
You’re going to have a helluva time
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We got Live Oak at the Dallas show this week. I think Live Oak is his best true story telling song in his library. The depth of it, the twist in it, it’s just a fucking banger.
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Dallas Show set list was a bummer for me. Not as much Weathervanes as I’d hoped (last Dallas show was a few weeks before the release so we didn’t get much of the album). But then way too much Southeastern for me. I could be accused of seeing too many isbell shows, but I feel like he has a very small pool of songs he’s willing to play from old albums. Which stinks.
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I think I had the same gripe with Zach Bryan’s set. I feel like concert set lists will also leave a certain sect of a fan base wanting. The songs that resonate with so many people don’t necessarily “get the crowd going”. I feel like if isbell performed at a Nashville/austin bar and it was to a smaller, intimate crowd and it was just him and a guitar, he’d be more compelled to dive deep into older/slower/more passionate tracks. But when you’re performing in a stadium/big venue, I just don’t know that you “capture” the audience with those songs, and then a larger group of people will be saying “he played a bunch of depressing slow songs”
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Yeah I can see that. I’ve heard him talk a few times about playing the songs people want to hear, which tends to skew towards the newer stuff. Then I think he plays what he likes to play and my pure speculation is that some of the older stuff just doesn’t do much for him sometimes.
As a contrast, I saw the first of the two Pearl Jam shows in Seattle a couple months ago and they just get way too cute with the set lists. I know it’s part of the deal with them that they’re going to play new stuff and some obscure stuff but they didn’t play either Black or Jeremy, which is pretty fucking annoying. I didn’t go to the second night but they apparently didn’t play Even Flow, which is even more annoying.
At least with Isbell you know you’re not going to a show and not hearing Cover Me Up.