hypersongs

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

The Alabama songwriter Jason Isbell, formerly of Drive-By Truckers, and his Muscle Shoals-rooted band, whose Southeastern (2013) holds "Elephant" and who have won six Grammys.

Green Hill to Drive-By Truckers

Michael Jason Isbell was born in Green Hill, Alabama on February 1, 1979. His family taught him mandolin from age six, he played the Grand Ole Opry at 16, and he studied English and creative writing at the University of Memphis, leaving a credit short to tour and receiving the degree in September 2023. At about 21 he had a publishing deal with FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals. In 2001, aged 22, he joined Drive-By Truckers during the Southern Rock Opera tour after sitting in at an acoustic house party, and wrote songs for Decoration Day (2003), The Dirty South (2004) and A Blessing and a Curse (2006). He announced his departure on April 5, 2007.

His solo debut, Sirens of the Ditch, came out on New West on July 10, 2007. The band name comes from the 400 Unit, a nickname for a psychiatric ward in Florence, Alabama, and the group was mostly Muscle Shoals-area musicians. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (February 17, 2009, Lightning Rod) was produced by the band with Matt Pence at FAME, The Nutthouse in Sheffield and The Echo Lab in Denton, with Browan Lollar on guitars, Derry deBorja on keyboards, Jimbo Hart on bass and Pence on drums; Pitchfork gave it 7.4. Here We Rest (April 12, 2011) was self-produced, and he moved to Nashville that year.

Southeastern and the Americana awards

Southeastern (June 11, 2013, on his own Southeastern label) was produced by Dave Cobb; Ryan Adams was first to produce but withdrew after the first demos, and Isbell said he wanted to remember it all this time. It debuted at number 23 on the Billboard 200, scores 87 on Metacritic, and was Americana Album of the Year in 2014. Something More Than Free (July 17, 2015, produced by Cobb at Sound Emporium, recorded in March 2015) reached number six on the Billboard 200 and number one on the country chart, and won the Grammys for best Americana album and, for "24 Frames", best American roots song. The Nashville Sound (June 16, 2017) won the same two Grammy categories with "If We Were Vampires", and Weathervanes (June 9, 2023) won them again, with "Cast Iron Skillet".

Reunions (2020), Georgia Blue (October 15, 2021, covers), Foxes in the Snow (March 7, 2025, solo) and the live albums Live from the Ryman (2018) and Live from the Ryman Vol. 2 (2024) followed. Wikipedia counts six Grammys from ten nominations through 2024, and he was the Country Music Hall of Fame's artist in residence in 2017. He played BBC Later with Jools Holland in April 2016, the 2024 Democratic National Convention on August 19, 2024, and acted in Killers of the Flower Moon (2023). He produced American Aquarium's Burn. Flicker. Die. (2012), Josh Ritter's Fever Breaks (2019) and Kathleen Edwards's Billionaire (2025). Setlist.fm lists about 1,270 setlists for the band, with a 2026 residency at the Ryman in Nashville.

Albums

  • Southeastern 2013 · Southeastern

    His 2013 album, produced by Dave Cobb, with twelve songs all written by Isbell and recorded without the full band.

Songs

  • Elephant Southeastern · 2013

    The fourth track of Southeastern, a song about a woman dying of cancer seen through her closest friend.

Sources

  1. Jason Isbell, Wikipedia
  2. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Wikipedia
  3. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Wikipedia
  4. Something More Than Free, Wikipedia