In February 2012, Isbell’s girlfriend Amanda Shires (who played fiddle on Here We Rest), manager Traci Thomas, and fellow musician Ryan Adams convinced him to seek treatment. Americana music is defined as a contemporary mix of American roots-style music incorporating elements of country, roots-rock, folk, bluegrass, R&B and blues.ĭuring this time, Isbell’s binge drinking worsened and family and friends began to fear for his health and life. The album received positive reviews and was nominated for Album of the Year for the 2012 Americana Music Awards the single “Alabama Pines” won the Song of the Year. The band’s second studio album, Here We Rest, was released in April 2011, also on Lightning Rod Records. Their first album, the eponymously named Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit was released in February 2009 on Lightning Rod Records. The following year, Isbell brought together a group of musicians from the Muscle Shoals area to form The 400 Unit. Isbell then embarked on a solo career, releasing the album Sirens of the Ditch (recorded at FAME Studios) in July 2007 on New West Records. By 2007, Isbell and Tucker were divorcing, and on April 5 of that year, Isbell announced that he had left the band. The band members’ heavy touring schedule combined with their whiskey-fueled lifestyle led to conflicts and animosity between Isbell and his band mates, including Tucker. Although this period of his life was marked by musical successes, with hit songs “Decoration Day” and “Outfit,” it also was a time of personal turmoil and increasing alcohol abuse. In 2002, Isbell married bassist Shonna Tucker, who became the Drive-By Truckers’ bass player the following year. His songs for the Drive-By Truckers often included references to Alabama with themes of family, poverty, and struggle. A year later, in 2001, he left FAME to join the Drive-By Truckers as they toured in support of their album Southern Rock Opera.īetween 20, Isbell contributed to the Drive-By Truckers vocally, musically, and lyrically on three albums: Decoration Day (2003), The Dirty South (2004), and A Blessing and a Curse (2006). At age 21, he took a job at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals as a songwriter for $250 a week. Isbell left the Shoals to study creative writing on an academic scholarship at the University of Memphis but returned to Alabama before graduating to pursue his musical career. Through playing in Muscle Shoals music venues, Isbell befriended many of the professional musicians in the area, including David Hood, the bassist for the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and father of Patterson Hood, a founding member of the band Drive-By Truckers. The band played at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, when Isbell was 16. Around the same time, he formed a country cover band with his friend, songwriter Chris Tompkins. By the time he was a sophomore, Isbell was so adept with the guitar that his mother allowed him to earn money by playing with bands at local bars. His paternal grandfather, a Pentecostal preacher, played country, bluegrass, and gospel on guitar with Isbell for hours every day and also introduced him to the music of blues legend Robert Johnson. He began playing the mandolin at age six and soon after received his first guitar, which he learned to play while being cared for at his grandparents’ farm during the day. He grew up in the Muscle Shoals area in an extended family that played music together at family gatherings and was immersed in music from a young age. Michael Jason Isbell was born in Green Hill, Lauderdale County, on February 1, 1979, to Angela Hill Barnett and Mike Isbell, who were both teenagers when he was born. Prior to his successful solo career, Isbell was a member of the southern rock band Drive-By Truckers, for which he penned several of the group’s most iconic songs. A prolific writer and touring artist, Isbell has developed a large national following, and in 2015 his fifth solo album, Something More than Free, simultaneously debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums, Folk Albums, and Country Albums charts. Isbell’s musical style has been described as “Americana,” but it combines elements of the Muscle Shoals sound, southern rock, punk rock, country, blues, and folk. His songwriting and musical style are deeply connected to his north Alabama roots, and his carefully crafted lyrics often touch upon his personal life and the lives of the people of the region. Jason Isbell (1979- ) is a Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Alabama.
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