Jason Isbell Band • Page 6

+1 for Relatively Easy. That just does it for me oh every level.

 

There are like five songs on Southeastern that could be contenders, but "Cover Me Up" is maybe my favorite song of the century so far. So...

 

lot of gut punches in Isbell songs, but for some reason the second verse of "Relatively Easy" hits me harder than anything.

 

There can’t be a discussion about Isbell’s best song with out mentioning Elephant.

But yeah add me to the list for Cover Me Up. I still get chills every time I see him perform it live.

 

I do love the line "compared to people on a global scale"

I get misty eyed over Cover Me Up pretty much every time

Elephant is up there of course

 

("Yvette" and "Decoration Day")

 

There are so many of his songs that I just flat out enjoy so damn much. "Songs That She Sang In The Shower", "Chicago Promenade", "Stopping By", "Cigarettes and Wine", "Children of Children" - I could go on and on to the point where I'm just listing the man's songs.

But if I had to pick what I thought was his best or most impressive song I have to go with "Cover Me Up". "Elephant" and "If We Were Vampires" are right there though. Like a molecule's distance below.

 

Also my top three. “Speed Trap Town” and “Dress Blues” round out the top five.

 

See? I completely forgot about "Dress Blues", which is right up there too. I think that kinda just reinforces my point.

I recently watched a live performance of "Dress Blues" and it literally brought me to tears. Always makes me think of a very close childhood friend of my wife's, a Marine who was killed in Iraq when he was 19 years old.

 

What’s his best pre-Southeastern music? Never really enjoyed Drive By Truckers much.

 

My honest opinion is he simply doesn't have a bad album. I think all of his albums are loaded with great songs. Just start with "Sirens of the Ditch" go in order.

I am particularly fond of "Here We Rest" from 2011, though I do fully admit the album kinda peters out and is never as good after the throwaway track. There's a non-album track from those sessions called "Brand New Stone" that shreds and greatly improves the album's back half.

 

Here We Rest isn’t quite on the same level, but the first half is pretty perfect.

 

Yeah Here We Rest gets my vote as well. As others have stated it certainly drops off in the 2nd half, but the first half is a very clear indicator of the quality you see on future albums.

 

Listen to Jason Isbell's Live Last of My Kind Recorded At the Ryman Auditorium

Holy smokes!

 

I do wish he had found a way to include the Tom Petty covers from that run of shows.

 

The Petty covers are all I really want, haha

 

Yeah, given his catalogue, the amount of songs he played at those shows, and the covers, the track listing for the Ryman album is disappointing. Baffling, really. Like, just release one of the full concerts or something. It's also billed as "mostly recorded" during the Ryman residency. Does that mean there are studio overdubs or something? I hate that kinda stuff. Gimme the live set, imperfections and all.

 

I ripped a pretty good quality video of the Ryman show I was at last October that I listen to all the time.

 

"Relatively Easy" might be the best song of the decade, y'all can fight me if you disagree

 

It’s really so unbelievably good

 

I’ve been fiddling with my top songs of the decade list recently and the biggest issue is that Jason has like 5-6 songs that are top 10 contenders.

 

Geeze only 5-6? haha

"Alabama Pines, "Codeine," "Stopping By," "Cover Me Up," "Elephant," "Different Days," "Relatively Easy," "24 Frames," "Children of Children," "Speed Trap Town," "Palmetto Rose," "Last of My Kind," "White Mans World," "Something to Love".........I think that's more than 10 even just right there, this man has written so many A++ songs this decade it's unreal.

And there are still several songs that I adore that didn't even make that list I just threw together. Dude's got a deep bench.

 

But "Relatively Easy" is kind of in a class of its own to me, it just tugs you in so many different directions all in one song. Lots of incredibly poignant and reflective stuff going on in that song that is seemingly contradictory--it's actually a love song, but touches on death, personal transformation/repentance (like every song on Southeastern), social responsibility/perspective, and more without forcing anything. It's also one of the best arrangements of any of his songs in my opinion (shout out Dave Cobb) and also has one of Isbell's most gut-wrenching melodies (which is saying a lot). If you don't tear up when he reaches for the high note on "riiiiight hand" then you may not be human.

Also the A/A/A/B rhyme scheme in the verses does it for me

 

These would probably all be contenders for the top 10:

Cover Me Up
Elephant
Relatively Easy
Speed Trap Town
If We Were Vampires

"Cover Me Up" is my absolute number 1 of the decade so far, though. I think it's one of the greatest love songs of all time, while simultaneously being a song about redemption and resilience. Plus, there are very few songs that have affected me more in a live setting.

 

yeah im very here for the live cuts he's put out so far