Music Review: Jason Isbell, Something More Than Free

By Melissa Bratcher

After his confessional, revelatory Southeastern from 2013, it would be forgivable for Jason Isbell to coast. Southeastern was huge: deeply personal, immediate, and gripping, not to mention successful. Isbell won Album of the Year, Song of the Year (for “Cover Me Up”), and Artist of the Year at the Americana awards. With his incredible new album, Something More Than Free, it’s clear Isbell isn’t going to take it easy.

Whereas Southeastern was an emotionally raw, post-rehab album, Something More Than Free finds Isbell in a happier place: he’s married to fiddle player Amanda Shires (whose exquisite work is a golden thread throughout) and expecting a baby. The album is not as dark as Southeastern; it could be deemed happy. Pretty much.

Jason Isbell’s hallmark is the raw honesty of his lyrics. Stories of strivers and hopers, the broken hearted, people in small towns in the South, people who want more, but who are just… stuck. His songs are rich in detail and he says so much with a simple phrase, like this from “If It Takes A Lifetime”: “I don’t keep liquor here / Never cared for wine or beer / And working for the county keeps me pissing clear.” It tells the listener so much with so little. Or take the lyrical entirety of “Flagship.” There’s much to unpack and it’s so perfectly realized it’s almost painful. The best lyrics in the world, however, are lost without fine melodies, and Isbell writes music that feels familiar, classic, and perfect for his words. He’s an exceptional talent, and there’s not a false moment—or a false word—on Something More Than Free.

Isbell creates snapshots with his songs. These are conversations already started, stories told halfway through. The protagonist of “Speed Trap Town” yearns to leave his small town, where everyone knows him and his trouble, but he can’t decide “if there’s anything that can’t be left behind.” The sketch of his philandering daddy dying in the ICU, the roses he drops in his shopping cart, the high school game he attends: they’re all so vivid that it’s wrenching. It’s like watching a movie: cinematic, but subtle.

Cinematic, also, is “Children Of Children.” “I was ridin’ on my mother’s hip / she was shorter than the corn / and all the years I took from her / just by being born,” Isbell sings. Stark and vivid, with the understated sounds of a storm rolling across the plains churned up with Shires’s fiddle and Isbell’s guitar, it’s an apology of sorts to his mother, to parents who had to be parents while they were still children. It’s also a song about breaking that cycle.

The breathtaking, Laurel Canyon-flavored “24 Frames” features a chorus that is nothing short of stellar: “You thought God was an architect, now you know / He’s something like a pipe bomb, ready to blow / And everything you’ve built that’s all for show goes up in flames / In 24 frames.” The melody and the honesty are goosebump inducing; the narrator is trying to keep himself in check.

“The Life You Choose” is another brilliant snapshot: the narrator is a fully-realized character who “got lucky when I finished school / Lost three fingers to a faulty tool / Settled out of court / I’m nobody’s fool” and he pines for a lost love, wondering if she’s “living the life you chose? Are you living the life that chose you?” The melody is almost sunny, but the melancholy lurks at the edges.

The title track is perfect for Isbell’s soulful, believable voice. It chronicles a hard working man, lonesome, but accepting of his lot and thankful he’s working: “The hammer needs the nail, and the poor man’s up for sale.” It’s crushing and Isbell’s voice conveys the pain.

Something More Than Free is that rare, miracle album. It’s an instant classic, better than we humans even deserve. Jason Isbell’s gift for melody and lyrics places him in a singular pantheon: an artist whose work will stand the test of time. He writes to universal truths, with searing honesty, giving voice to people whose stories don’t always get told.

Something More Than Free was released on July 17 from Southeastern Records.

Tour Dates:
July 24 – Brooklyn, NY – Celebrate Brooklyn
July 26 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion
July 28 – Stroudsburg, PA – Sherman Theater
July 29 – Philadelphia, PA – Skyline Stage at the Mann Center
July 31 – Fort Smith, AR – Peacemaker Music & Arts Festival
August 2 – Wichita, KS – Orpheum Theatre
August 4 – Boise, ID – The Morrison Center
August 5 – Missoula, MT – University Theatre
August 7 – Seattle, WA – Moore Theatre
August 8 – Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
August 9 – Reno, NV – Grand Sierra Theatre
August 11 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
August 12 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
August 14 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot
August 16 – Lyons, CO – Folks Festival
October 23-26 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium – SOLD OUT