Latest news with #400Unit
The Hill
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hill
Michael Stipe, Brandi Carlile and Jason Isbell headline album to benefit legal group battling Trump
Michael Stipe and Big Red Machine, 'The Joke' singer Brandi Carlile and Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit are among the artists featured on a new album from a left-leaning legal organization that has gone head-to-head with the Trump administration in the courts. Songs and spoken word pieces from the musicians will be included on 'Democracy Forward,' the group of the same name announced on Tuesday. The double album from Democracy Forward and the literary magazine The Bitter Southerner will begin shipping at the end of the month and is poised to be released on vinyl in early July. Other artists performing as part of the compilation album include Tyler Childers, Brittany Howard, Wilco and John Prine. 'We believe in the importance of our democracy and also our ability to save it,' Stipe said in a spoken word recording featured on the album, according to the group. 'The world is depending on us. This fight is not over. The day is not done,' the REM lead singer said. Last week, Democracy Forward represented a coalition of democracy groups in a lawsuit against the State Department that challenged an agreement struck by the Trump White House with the government of El Salvador to transport more than 200 migrants to a prison in the Central American country. 'At a time when so many communities across the nation are hurting and being targeted, music, art, and expression helps to bring people together in community, which creates the conditions for courage,' Skye Perryman, Democracy Forward's president and CEO, said in a statement about the album's release. 'We are incredibly grateful to the artists who have dedicated their music to support the American people's rights and our democracy during this consequential time. Each of us has a role to play in strengthening our democracy, and every voice matters,' Perryman said. All proceeds from the $46 musical project, which is available for pre-sale beginning this week, will benefit Democracy Forward's work, 'including the legal representation it provides free of charge for people and communities to defend their rights under the Constitution,' the organization said.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Music Review: An unplugged Jason Isbell electrifies on new album, 'Foxes in the Snow'
Jason Isbell unplugged can still electrify. An excellent bandleader, guitarist and singer, Isbell is first and foremost a songwriter, and that skill takes center stage on his new album, 'Foxes in the Snow,' which will be released Friday. It's Isbell's first solo acoustic album, and his first album since 2013 without his band, the 400 Unit. Accompanied by only his 1940 Martin acoustic guitar, Isbell sorts through romantic relationships. He sounds like someone trying to find his bearings. There's blood on the tracks. That's not surprising given that the album is Isbell's first since his breakup with singer-songwriter Amanda Shires after more than a decade of marriage. Some of the material sounds powerfully autobiographical, and that's especially true on the chorus of 'Gravelweed." 'I was gravelweed and I needed you to raise me / You couldn't reach me once I felt like I was raised,' he sings. "And now that I live to see my melodies betray me / I'm sorry the love songs all mean different things today.' Yes, the 2013 fan favorite 'Cover Me Up," written for Shires, does sound different now. Isbell sings about dangerous memories, dreams forgotten, the value of persistence, and the tug of his Alabama roots. 'Ride to Robert's' pays tribute to one of downtown Nashville's best honky-tonks, while 'Open and Close' skewers a bar band for mangling Steely Dan. (That's something he knows a little something about; Isbell spent a formidable stretch in a Steely Dan cover band.) Rich, lean language and imaginative turns of phrase are Isbell's specialty. 'I hope they're grading on a curve,' he sings. "Forever is a dead man's joke.' And later, 'You thought the truth was just a rumor.' All three come from just one song, 'Eileen.' Isbell is a terrific acoustic guitarist, and his playing here is subtle and superb. A Doc Watson-style riff provides the foundation for the title cut, while nifty filigrees augment the waltz 'Open and Close' and the opener 'Bury Me,' which sounds like a cowboy song from the '50s. That's the 1950s, or 1850s. In a brave experiment, Isbell is touring solo, testing whether or not these sturdy but sober songs are enough to hold the attention of several thousand spectators. At the moment, he's not in the mood to stomp and holler. ___ For more AP reviews of recent music releases, visit: Steven Wine, The Associated Press
Associated Press
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Music Review: An unplugged Jason Isbell electrifies on new album, ‘Foxes in the Snow'
Jason Isbell unplugged can still electrify. An excellent bandleader, guitarist and singer, Isbell is first and foremost a songwriter, and that skill takes center stage on his new album, 'Foxes in the Snow,' which will be released Friday. It's Isbell's first solo acoustic album, and his first album since 2013 without his band, the 400 Unit. Accompanied by only his 1940 Martin acoustic guitar, Isbell sorts through romantic relationships. He sounds like someone trying to find his bearings. There's blood on the tracks. That's not surprising given that the album is Isbell's first since his breakup with singer-songwriter Amanda Shires after more than a decade of marriage. Some of the material sounds powerfully autobiographical, and that's especially true on the chorus of 'Gravelweed.' 'I was gravelweed and I needed you to raise me / You couldn't reach me once I felt like I was raised,' he sings. 'And now that I live to see my melodies betray me / I'm sorry the love songs all mean different things today.' Yes, the 2013 fan favorite 'Cover Me Up,' written for Shires, does sound different now. Isbell sings about dangerous memories, dreams forgotten, the value of persistence, and the tug of his Alabama roots. 'Ride to Robert's' pays tribute to one of downtown Nashville's best honky-tonks, while 'Open and Close' skewers a bar band for mangling Steely Dan. (That's something he knows a little something about; Isbell spent a formidable stretch in a Steely Dan cover band.) Rich, lean language and imaginative turns of phrase are Isbell's specialty. 'I hope they're grading on a curve,' he sings. 'Forever is a dead man's joke.' And later, 'You thought the truth was just a rumor.' All three come from just one song, 'Eileen.' Isbell is a terrific acoustic guitarist, and his playing here is subtle and superb. A Doc Watson-style riff provides the foundation for the title cut, while nifty filigrees augment the waltz 'Open and Close' and the opener 'Bury Me,' which sounds like a cowboy song from the '50s. That's the 1950s, or 1850s. In a brave experiment, Isbell is touring solo, testing whether or not these sturdy but sober songs are enough to hold the attention of several thousand spectators. At the moment, he's not in the mood to stomp and holler.
Chicago Tribune
16-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: In Jason Isbell's solo show at the Auditorium, debut songs and simple artistry
Leave it to Jason Isbell to raise the stakes at an event overflowing with promise Saturday at a sold-out Auditorium Theatre. In town for the North American launch of his six-week 'An Intimate Evening with Jason Isbell' tour and his first area solo appearance, the revered vocalist-guitarist doubled down by using the occasion to make the Stateside debut of six new songs and the public premiere of a seventh ('Open and Close'). Over the course of 85 remarkable minutes, he furthered the case for himself as the finest singer-songwriter of his generation. So much for worrying about bootlegging and phone-shot videos posting online before people get a chance to hear the studio album arriving in early March. Or fretting about muted reactions and restroom trips by fans unfamiliar with the songs. Such concerns have all but put a stop to major artists woodshedding fresh ideas or surprising listeners with unreleased music at shows. Then again, Isbell seldom adheres to popular convention. That characteristic extends to his capacity to fill a 3,875-seat venue, receive near dead-quiet audience cooperation and provide a spellbinding blend of sincerity, craftsmanship and virtuosity with only his voice and a few acoustic guitars at his disposal. Amid our age of attention deficits, Isbell's achievements carry significant weight, particularly in a time when expectations for lavish spectacles continue to grow and lyric prompters, pre-recorded vocals and backing tracks are increasingly commonplace. Isbell told everyone he considered the tour name 'gross' and pointed out that his intimacy with crowds at concerts started long before now. Seated for the duration, the affable Alabama native offered nothing in the way of bells or whistles. He didn't benefit from the presence of a single accompanist, let alone the volume and interplay of his customary band. Isbell shunned visual backdrops and projection screens, opting for basic lighting and a spartan setup. His indulgences? A guitar technician who occasionally walked onstage to trade instruments with him, a glass of water perched next to his chair. Though by modern standards, the bare-bones approach might be deemed anachronistic — a remnant from a bygone era — Isbell made it seem at once connective, contemporary and courageous. Chicago last saw Isbell pass through in September with his dependable 400 Unit band at Ravinia. That date followed on the heels of a pair of late-winter concerts at Salt Shed. Per usual, Isbell spent a majority of the remaining year on the road with a relentless schedule that included a lengthy European leg and, in what's become tradition, a prolonged run in October in his current home base of Nashville, Tennessee. That same month, Isbell retreated to New York City to record his first entirely solo LP, the forthcoming 'Foxes in the Snow,' on a mahogany 1940 Martin 0-17 acoustic guitar in just five days at Electric Lady Studios. Time will tell if that effort will add to Isbell's impressive awards resume that already counts six Grammys and a record-breaking three best albums from the Americana Music Honors. While not exactly a mainstream artist, the former Drive-By Truckers member continues to grow his faithful following. Another key if less obvious sign of Isbell's elevated status in the industry: Partnerships with two prominent guitar manufacturers that released models bearing his name. Cutting a dapper figure in a black suit and black dress shoes, Isbell repeatedly demonstrated why any reputable six-string purveyor would desire that affiliation. Resonant, pure and fluid, Isbell's deceivingly simple playing often gave the impression more than one guitar was responsible for the detailed lines, radiant harmonics and brilliant textures. He roamed country, blues, folk, jazz and roots landscapes, alternating between strummed chords and finger-picked patterns whose spidery architecture left plenty of space for words. Isbell channeled Southern-fried twang, melodic soul, rustic balladry, troubadour boogie and pick-and-grin bluegrass. With his left leg moving to an invisible beat, Isbell wielded his right hand akin to the second hand of a clock, keeping steady time and brushing against strings with varying degrees of force to shape the sound. He added minor accents to a handful of older tunes and adjusted solos on several others, yet resisted embellishment and excess. Operating with quiet confidence and thoughtful integrity and inserting brief banter and a few jokes into the set for balance, Isbell showed how much his singing was on par with his instrumental prowess. Freed from having to compete with amplified instruments in a group, his voice enjoyed the same priority as his guitar. Isbell harbored a host of strengths — pitch control, projection and phrasing, plus a warm drawl that cushioned sharp syllables with soft landings — that increased his flair for storytelling and communicating feelings ranging from heartbreak to empathy and anger with clarity and directness. He probed how meanings change as we age ('Gravelweed'); dispensed sage advice ('Outfit'); sifted through the detritus of fractured relationships ('Eileen'); chronicled different kinds of pain tied to familial love ('Cast Iron Skillet,' 'If We Were Vampires'); and contemplated the highs and lows of watching life from a safe distance via a John Prine classic ('Storm Windows'). Isbell seamlessly paired indignation with introspection ('True Believer'), and accountability with longing ('Alabama Pines'), functioning as the equivalent of a driver who granted listeners a passenger-seat view of scenery and specifics as they crystallized in his mind. Tonally registering as if carved from a medium-hard piece of oak, his transparent deliveries — mellow whispers, conversational assertions, longing moans, resolute cries — served as effective vessels for those character sketches and autobiographical reflections. Isbell's authoritative vocal performance also highlighted his savvy wordplay and observations, tools that reinforced his music's tight links with descriptive language and honest perspective. 'I don't say things that I don't mean,' Isbell sang on the fast-paced 'Ride to Robert's.' His conviction, and the conscientiousness he invested in every song, left no doubt. Bob Gendron is a freelance critic. Setlist from the Auditorium Theatre on Feb. 15: 'Bury Me' 'Outfit' (Drive-By Truckers cover) 'Foxes in the Snow' 'Gravelweed' 'Middle of the Morning' 'Eileen' 'Alabama Pines' 'Open and Close' 'Cover Me Up' 'Traveling Alone' 'Storm Windows' (John Prine cover) 'If We Were Vampires' 'Cast Iron Skillet' 'Relatively Easy' Encore 'Ride to Robert's' 'Beth/Rest' (Bon Iver cover) 'True Believer'
