Jason Isbell: Still Truckin’

Sirens of the Ditch
Jason Isbell
(New West)

Jason Isbell has always seemed mature for his age.

Six years ago, Isbell joined the Drive-By Truckers for the tour supporting their breakout double album, “Southern Rock Opera.” Though only in his early 20s, Isbell wasted no time stepping into his share of the spotlight and going toe-to-toe with the band’s other singer/guitarists, Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley. Isbell wrote two of the best songs on the Truckers’ follow-up, 2003’s “Decoration Day”: the title track and the father-to-son ballad “Outfit.” Isbell continued to grow as a guitarist and songwriter, contributing top-notch tunes such as “The Day John Henry Died,” “Danko/Manuel” and “Never Gonna Change” to the band’s rapidly expanding catalog.

Isbell’s backlog of material was expanding, too, and word was he was working on a solo album. The news had Truckers fans salivating over the prospect of hearing great songs that couldn’t find a place on the band’s discs. This spring, it finally was revealed that the long-awaited disc would be released on the New West Records. In the wake of that announcement followed two other biggies, possibly related to the first: Isbell had gotten divorced from his wife, Truckers bassist Shonna Tucker, and he left the band.

Talk about a blessing and a curse. Drive-By Truckers, though on the rise when Isbell joined up, were at the height of their powers on their first two discs with Isbell in the three-guitar lineup, “Decoration Day” and 2004’s “The Dirty South.” On the other hand, the split created two immensely talented factions. On his solo debut, “Sirens of the Ditch,” Isbell proves that he’s ready to hold up his end. As Truckers fans have come to expect, the material is quite accomplished for a songwriter who is only 28 years old.

The end result might be expected, but the route taken is somewhat of a departure. “Sirens of the Ditch” is not a Drive-By Truckers album with Isbell singing all of the songs. It’s a bit more polished, for starters. Like Isbell’s work with DBT, though, the songs are written in rich detail and inhabited by lovers and losers, the hard-working, the hard-drinking and the heartbroken. Where the disc diverges from Isbell’s former band is in its diversity, a by-product of recording in his native stomping grounds of Muscle Shoals, Ala. Carrying on the rich heritage of that area, ballads and blues sit side-by-side in perfect harmony. Isbell draws from swamp-rock, R&B, country and singer-songwriter material as the song dictates.

The Muscle Shoals mystique seeps into “Sirens of the Ditch” on the shimmering “Down in a Hole” and the simmering “Hurricanes and Hand Grenades.” On the former, Isbell creates dark, brooding swamp-rock with help from two of the region’s luminaries: Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section bassist David Hood, father of Patterson, and revered songwriter/organist Spooner Oldham. The latter tune is a woozy, boozy blues that would not sound out of place in the catalogs of Aretha Franklin or the Allman Brothers.

A statement on Drive-By Truckers’ Web site described Isbell’s departure as “extremely amicable,” but it’s not yet a clean break. Because of the drawn-out recording process, the album was co-produced by Patterson Hood. Ex-bandmates Tucker and drummer Brad Morgan also play on the disc. So does pedal steel guitarist John Neff, who essentially replaced Isbell in DBT. Supporting cast aside, the show belongs to Isbell, who plays guitar, dobro, banjo, bass, organ and piano. He’s a terrific instrumentalist, and his husky vocals are suited to the material. But it’s as a writer that Isbell shines brightest. His work in the band setting was stellar, and it’s as strong when he’s in the spotlight all alone.

There are a few rockers influenced by The Replacements and Tom Petty, such as “Brand New Kind of Actress,” “Shotgun Wedding” and “Try.” But Isbell’s strongest tunes here seem to have slower tempos, softer dynamics and plenty of the poignant writing on which Isbell made his name. He makes good use of metaphor to describe the traveling musician’s life on “The Magician” and bitter, painful heartbreak on the country ballad “In a Razor Town.” “Chicago Promenade,” which deals with the death of a cherished male relative, is a bouncing but touching piano ballad.

The centerpiece of “Sirens of the Ditch” is “Dress Blues,” an ode to a fallen Marine from Isbell’s hometown that has been making its way into live sets and around the Internet for quite some time. Some of those early, stark renditions of the song are even more powerful, but the studio version benefits from Neff’s crying pedal steel. The rest of its success lies in Isbell’s ability to set the scene in vivid detail such as “flags on the side of the highway, and scripture on grocery store signs” in a town where “nobody showed up to protest / just sniffle and stare.” The description of the memorial service is likely to be painfully familiar to many listeners: “You won’t be back / They’re all dressing in black / Drinking sweet tea in Styrofoam cups.”

Another piece related to the war in Iraq, “The Devil is My Running Mate,” closes the disc. The main character is a thinly veiled President Bush, but the song is no sophomoric, impeach-the-president-now screed. It’s a character study that allows the listener to decide how much character there is to be studied: “Sometimes I don’t know what I got into / Sometimes I can’t stand to read my name / Sometimes I can only hear their voices / Casting me back from where I came.”

The song is plenty critical, and far from sympathetic. But by giving the conflicted politician a voice, Isbell manages to find a bit of empathy where you might expect to find only enmity. That’s the mark of a mature writer. Then again, maturity is what we’ve come to expect from Isbell.