Jason Isbell on Songwriting While Sober

The New Yorker Radio Hour

WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

Politics, Arts, News, Wnyc, Books, David, Storytelling, Society & Culture, Yorker, New, Remnick

4.2 • 6.2K Ratings

🗓️ 26 July 2022

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jason Isbell got into the music business early; he had a publishing deal when he was twenty-one. But he really came into his own as a songwriter around ten years ago, as he was getting sober from years of alcohol and drug use. His record “Southeastern,” which comes in the tradition of musicians like Guy Clark, swept the Americana Music Awards in 2014. Isbell spoke with John Seabrook at The New Yorker Festival in 2016, shortly after his record “Something More than Free” was released, and he played a live set of songs including “Different Days,” “How to Forget,” and “Speed Trap Town.” This segment first aired December 30, 2016.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:12.0	This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.
0:19.7	In a razor town, you'll take your every... Thank you. David Remnick.
0:34.1	Jason Nisbill got into the music business pretty early, so early that he had a music publishing deal by the time he was 21.
0:36.6	At the same time, he joined the band Drive-Buy Truckers.
0:40.1	But he really came into his own as a songwriter around 10 years ago as he was getting
0:44.6	sober from years of alcohol and drugs.
0:48.2	The record was called Southeastern, and it swept the Americana Music Awards in 2014. Those songs have got it all.
0:55.3	Great lyrics, great melodies, great stories, and more acclaimed records have followed.
1:00.0	I've been loving you.
1:09.1	Too long.
1:13.6	Stop in it.
1:15.6	Isbell's most recent is called Georgia Blue.
1:19.6	It fulfilled a promise he made that if Joe Biden won the state in 2020,
1:22.6	he'd make an album for charity of cover songs by Georgia artists.
1:31.2	One of Isbell's great admirers is the New Yorker's John Seabrook,
1:35.9	and John sat down with Jason Isbell at the New Yorker Festival in 2016,
1:39.2	when the record Something More Than Free had just come out,
1:44.1	and a little later in the program, we'll also hear some of Jason Isbell's music.
1:47.4	Thank you.
1:50.9	All right.
1:52.4	How you doing?
	...

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