Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and musician Jason Isbell will perform a special acoustic livestream concert this Friday, May 15 in celebration of his highly anticipated new album Reunions—out the same day on Southeastern Records/Thirty Tigers.
Isbell will perform with his wife and 400 Unit bandmate, Amanda Shires, live from Nashville’s new Brooklyn Bowl at 8:00pm ET/7:00pm CT. The stream, hosted by FANS, is free to the public with a suggested donation to support Isbell’s crew as well as the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund.
Produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Dave Cobb and recorded at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A, Reunions features 10 new songs written by Isbell and is already receiving widespread attention including an extensive new profile on Isbell at The New York Times. Read the full feature HERE. Isbell also performed his new song, “Only Children,” last week on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” in addition to speaking with the host. Watch the performance HERE and watch the full interview HERE.
Recent critical acclaim for Reunions…
“one of the most gifted singer/songwriters of the current generation, Isbell can do no wrong…the man is clearly at the top of his game” —★★★★ American Songwriter
“Jason Isbell long ago earned his place among the finest songwriters of his generation. Now he’s just pouring it on.” —Associated Press
“he’s using his stronger-than-ever voice for the powers of good” —Entertainment Weekly
“Jason Isbell has become the last of his kind: a guitar-playing, compulsively honest, relentlessly consistent songwriter.” —GQ
“the most musically rich of all of Isbell and The 400 Unit’s albums to date” —No Depression
“one of the greatest songwriters of his generation” —Rolling Stone
“one of his most personal albums and yet also one of his boldest…we all need a battle cry and Reunions is a great battle cry for this year” —Sound Opinions
“his pen is pointed as ever…honest, intense, admonishing and yet simultaneously forgiving, the songs on Reunions share a pain that feels exceptionally current” —Spin
“Heartfelt, economical, suspenseful enough to push you through to that devastating last word.” —Stereogum
“He’s rarely sounded closer to your eardrums than on ‘Be Afraid,’ even as what must be a half-dozen electric guitars are taking off into the ether.” —The Tennessean
“one of the best—if not the best—singer-songwriters working right now” —UPROXX
“devastating turns of phrase and soulful tones on both voice and guitar” —Vulture
Reunions is Isbell’s seventh full-length studio album and the fourth released with his band, the 400 Unit: Derry deBorja (piano, keyboard, organ, omnichord), Chad Gamble (drums, tambourine), Jimbo Hart (bass), Amanda Shires (fiddle) and Sadler Vaden (acoustic guitar, electric guitar). The new album also includes background vocals from special guests David Crosby (Crosby, Stills & Nash, the Byrds) and Jay Buchanan (Rival Sons).
Of the release, Isbell shares, “There are a lot of ghosts on this album. Sometimes the songs are about the ghosts of people who aren’t around anymore, but they’re also about who I used to be, the ghost of myself. I found myself writing songs that I wanted to write fifteen years ago, but in those days, I hadn’t written enough songs to know how to do it yet. Just now have I been able to pull it off to my own satisfaction. In that sense it’s a reunion with the me I was back then.”
Originally from Green Hill, Alabama and now based in Nashville, Isbell is a four-time GRAMMY Award-winning artist and is widely renowned as one of the greatest songwriters of his generation. Garnering immense critical acclaim throughout his career, NPR Music calls him, “one of the finest singer-songwriters working at the intersection of folk, country and rock today,” and continues, “his songs have an exquisite, rawboned realism and deeply embedded class-consciousness,” while American Songwriter declares, “There’s no better songwriter on the planet at this moment, no one operating with the same depth, eloquence or feeling” and USA Today proclaims, “he has developed into one of the great American songwriters…in a world where most pop songs are lies, Isbell is determined to find truth.”
Since the release of his breakthrough solo album, Southeastern, in 2013, Isbell has won four GRAMMY Awards, nine Americana Music Association Awards and was selected as the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum’s official 2017 Artist-in-Residence. Most recently, Isbell became a member of the acclaimed collaborative movement The Highwomen (fronted by fellow members Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris and Amanda Shires) and wrote “Maybe It’s Time”—featured in the award-winning 2018 film, A Star Is Born.
