Jason Isbell

As I listen to Jason Isbell, I realize what it is about his music that make what he signs so meaningful to me. In his songs there are consistent themes.  These include how to be a decent person in a world that seems insane and how to come to terms with a personal past that is not necessarily the nicest or cleanest.  Overlaid atop these repeating themes are the concepts he carries from his upbringing that are hard wired into his psyche, I.e., old time religion and the value of family.

Having been raised in a very large family, Mom was one of twelve and I had tons of cousins, I have the family component hardwired into my soul.  Having answered an altar call at 10 and having been immersed in the waters of baptism I get the old time religion business.  I come from a church that won’t delete my membership because I now attend a church that while Christian doesn’t believe in full immersion. And yeah I have a little history, not like Jason’s, but real none the less.  I have done wrong and I have hurt people. And finally I live in a country drifting toward a racist form of fascism.

And I am a white man living in a white man’s world. When he talks about wishing he wasn’t one of the people who ignored the racist jokes of his “friends” and I so totally get that.  I told those jokes once and now I cringe at them.

The bottom line here is that I hope Jason continues to struggle with these things.  I am struggling with these things and I need his voice to communicate what I am feeling. I hope his success does not dilute his feelings.  I hope that he continues to walk crossing between tortured and self aware all while pushing a honest progressive vision of self.

I hope that he never loses the romance in his words.  If We Were Vampires and Hudson Commodore are just two of his heart wrenching but wonderful batches of lyrics that define the meaning of a full heart. Yeah I like Jason Isbell and he seems for all the world to be the real deal.