Well, well, well, if it isn’t Jason Isbell, the Alabama-born country artist who is performing downtown on Friday, March 8, at Embassy Theatre with his ace backing band The 400 Unit.

Going through changes

The past year has been an exciting, busy, and turbulent one for Isbell. 

The Nashville, Tennessee-based singer-songwriter recently snagged two Grammy awards for Best Americana Song with the track “Cast Iron Skillet” and Best Americana album for Weathervanes, which brings his total Grammy count to six. 

If that wasn’t a big enough accomplishment on its own, Isbell took a massive first step onto the big screen this year in Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-nominated Killers of the Flower Moon. Isbell first ventured beyond music less than a decade ago when he voiced a “cool” preacher, Pastor Nubbins, on Adult Swim’s Squidbillies. 

On the other hand, Isbell recently filed for divorce from a longtime partner and former 400 Unit bandmate, Amanda Shires, with whom he shares a child. Shires has played a significant part in the most recent arcs of Isbell’s career and has a solo career of her own. 

Isbell’s marriage clearly informs his last decade of music, which strings together hard rock, Americana, and sultry country with a storyteller’s wit. Isbell’s lyrical prowess expanded and pushed country’s boundaries with unusually frank musings on motherhood, parenting, structural racism, and mental health. 

It’s unclear if Shires and Isbell will continue sharing stages at future dates, but fear not — The 400 Unit has plenty of talent to go around and includes veterans of alt-country outfits such as Son Volt and Drivin’ N Cryin’, as well as Will Johnson, the drummer best known for work with the supergroup Monsters of Folk. 

Profound lyricist

Intense topics have always inspired Isbell’s craft. 

His writing often hones in on small specifics that leave big impressions. For example,  “King of Oklahoma,” from 2023’s Weathervanes, finds Isbell adopting the perspective of a financially distraught addict whose wellbeing and marriage have crumbled after a work-related injury turned painkillers into an all-consuming habit. This man desperately needs cash, and Isbell’s opening lines immediately reveal plans to commit a crime: “We’ll take the copper from the work site/Meet me there at midnight; They ain’t got a camera or a guard.” 

Most songwriters would settle for vague descriptions of this man’s plight, but what Isbell offers is an accurate portrayal of criminality and addiction in the heat of the moment. Once the copper is stolen, this character will sell it and use the money to “write (his) own prescription” to stave off a withdrawal as his world crumbles. 

Many listeners will immediately pick up on what’s happening in this scene, but the beauty of the song is the depth of context Isbell provides in a brief time — even those of us who have not had a taste of black market copper can picture an eerie scene unfolding.

Making name for himself

Isbell has stood out as a literary talent in the country world more than two decades, starting in 2001. That year, Isbell joined Drive-By Truckers where he contributed face-melting Southern rock riffs to their three-guitar onslaught. There were also song contributions here and there, but the budding artist was mostly content to soak in the lyrical rays of the founding Truckers guitarists and songwriters Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, who hold a decade of experience over Isbell. 

Then Isbell penned the epic rock ballad “Decoration Day,” complete with country-fied licks and a captivating story of feuding families. The Truckers recognized the merit of the song so much so that they made it the title track of their fourth studio album in 2003. It was a bold move considering the stakes: that album followed the band’s 2001 breakthrough Southern Rock Opera and was Isbell’s first appearance on a Drive-By Truckers album. 

It’s unclear what the next chapter of Isbell’s life and music might look like, but the twists are bound to be interesting, entertaining, and worthwhile for fans, who always seem to get a little more than they bargained for with Isbell. 

Between virtuosic guitar solos, lyrical sucker punches, and star-studded collisions on the silver screen, there’s no telling what Isbell will come up with next.