Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, and Other Good Stuff

[Revolution512 1518]

Post Malone covering Sturgill’s “You Can Have the Crown” was surprisingly good. It was for MM’s benefit last night.

[Al_4_ISU 12666]

Post Malone covering Sturgill’s “You Can Have the Crown” was surprisingly good. It was for MM’s benefit last night.

Yeah it was. Goes to show damn good that song is. Of course Sturgill hates that song because he’s one of those people that resents their best work.

[Buzzrock 15158]

[jimmyjazz 47341]

I like that cover, I'm surprised at how well he sings . . . and I skeptical that it wasn't tuned up in post-production.

[4th&Five 42026]

 

[BurdineBandit 846]

Just poppin' in to this thread to say Sturgill's "Cuttin' Grass Vol. 2" made me a fan this morning. I remember the name from this board (& TOB), and kept seeing his album on my favorite record stores' social media in both Austin & Houston, so I gave it a listen. Alright so it ain't all party country and fake cali boys playing dress up out there. About to start with the 2013 album and work my way up.

[Al_4_ISU 12666]

36 minutes ago, BurdineBandit said:

Just poppin' in to this thread to say Sturgill's "Cuttin' Grass Vol. 2" made me a fan this morning. I remember the name from this board (& TOB), and kept seeing his album on my favorite record stores' social media in both Austin & Houston, so I gave it a listen. Alright so it ain't all party country and fake cali boys playing dress up out there. About to start with the 2013 album and work my way up.

High Top Mountain will fit in nice alongside your current expectations.  But it's gonna get real weird after that.  In a good way.

Edited April 8, 2021 by Al_4_ISU

[VolenteHawk 495]

If Covid got you into/back into vinyl and you dig Turnpike...their albums are back in stock at Tower and Amazon.

 

[noharleyyet 2865]

Am sure this has posted...finally slowed down & listened...& can't stop listening. Damn what a writer. 

 

[Seasick Sailor 3747]

1 hour ago, noharleyyet said:

Am sure this has posted...finally slowed down & listened...& can't stop listening. Damn what a writer. 

 

One of his best songs IMO. 

[Pescado_Rojo 19593]

 "It's a boy's last dream and a man's first loss"  just blew me away the first time I heard it. Just fantastic song writing. 

[noharleyyet 2865]

5 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

 "It's a boy's last dream and a man's first loss"  just blew me away the first time I heard it. Just fantastic song writing. 

 

Exactly the line that dinged me....

[Al_4_ISU 12666]

Speed Trap Town is one of SMTF's redeeming moments.  Overall, that album pushes Reunions for his weakest, IMO.  Hudson Commodore, How To Forget, The Life You Chose, To a Band That I Love, Flagship, and Palmetto Rose are just absolute dreck to my ears.

Speed Trap Town is a fucking home run though.

Edited April 15, 2021 by Al_4_ISU

[Al_4_ISU 12666]

49 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

 "It's a boy's last dream and a man's first loss"  just blew me away the first time I heard it. Just fantastic song writing. 

Yeah, that line absolutely slays.

[jimmyjazz 47341]

I'm partial to "these 5A bastards run a shallow cross".

Isbell is the new John Prine.  He has a way of crafting a lyric that is not only completely new and refreshing but immediately understandable.

[tbone_ 14475]

He’s a master. Not all the songs are masterpieces but he’s an absolute master of his craft.

[Seasick Sailor 3747]

Speed Trap Town is one of SMTF's redeeming moments.  Overall, that album pushes Reunions for his weakest, IMO.  Hudson Commodore, How To Forget, The Life You Chose, To a Band That I Love, Flagship, and Palmetto Rose are just absolute dreck to my ears.
Speed Trap Town is a fucking home run though.

I like the other songs, but How to Forget might be his worst song. I skip The Life You chose everytime too. Children of Children is great though.

[bluto 5000]

I like the other songs, but How to Forget might be his worst song. I skip The Life You chose everytime too. Children of Children is great though.

HtF worse than the 14 minute Anxiety? Cumberland gap? What’ve I done to help (another 12 min slop job)? Woof

I dig the lead track on SMtF, if it takes a lifetime. Especially the line toward the end, struck me in my own life a time or two....

I thought that I was running to but I was running from

Full disclosure, I’ve used decoration day as a piss/beer break at his shows on multiple occasions

[4th&Five 42026]

1 hour ago, bluto said:

HtF worse than the 14 minute Anxiety? Cumberland gap? What’ve I done to help (another 12 min slop job)? Woof

I dig the lead track on SMtF, if it takes a lifetime. Especially the line toward the end, struck me in my own life a time or two....

I thought that I was running to but I was running from

Full disclosure, I’ve used decoration day as a piss/beer break at his shows on multiple occasions

[Al_4_ISU 12666]

I like the other songs, but How to Forget might be his worst song. I skip The Life You chose everytime too. Children of Children is great though.

Children of Children, Lifetime, and Speed Trap are all on par with his best work

[tbone_ 14475]

 "It's a boy's last dream and a man's first loss"  just blew me away the first time I heard it. Just fantastic song writing. 

What do you think that means?

[Al_4_ISU 12666]

What do you think that means?

That playing high school football is the last thing you dream about as a kid and the first thing from your youth that’s taken when you grow up

That’s what it means to me and why it slays me.

I also think the narrator reminds me a little of Sonnny at the end of the Last Picture Show.

[Post Oak 20589]

9 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

What do you think that means?

My interpretation -

A kid with hopes of football glory gets crushed on the shallow cross.  Injured.  Dreams go up in smoke and he's got to learn to be a man.

When he thinks back on it.  It was the last time he had hopes of a better life and now he's taken plenty of Ls in life but that one sticks out.

[Pescado_Rojo 19593]

11 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

That playing high school football is the last thing you dream about as a kid and the first thing from your youth that’s taken when you grow up

That’s what it means to me and why it slays me.

I also think the narrator reminds me a little of Sonnny at the end of the Last Picture Show.

Pretty much the same, though I've also thought the narrator is reflecting on his own relationship troubles with the "man's first loss" angle. Remember, he's just bought his woman grocery store roses and tried not to cry walking out of the store with them. 

[tbone_ 14475]

I always thought he was juxtaposing hs football (a boys last dream) with losing his dad (a mans first loss).

Lines like this, and the thought they require, are what make him a master at his craft IMO.

[Al_4_ISU 12666]

I get the impression the narrator is glad to be rid of his dad.

[jimmyjazz 47341]

I took it more literally -- his old team went up against a superior opponent who toyed with them, and that process taught (the team) that sometimes dreams are just that, whimsy and ungrounded in reality.  There is always somebody bigger and badder.

[bluto 5000]

I’m with Al, that last game as a small town kid you realize after it’s over, that real life is next up. Your identity as football player/king of the town is dead, the transition to being a man giving the game and football grabass. I suppose it could also be last dream of ‘winning state’ or glory.

I like jj’s angle too. Damn isbell delivers some lines.

[jimmyjazz 47341]

16 minutes ago, bluto said:

Damn isbell delivers some lines.

. . . the master stroke is, of course "If I'd fucked her before she got sick, I'd never hear the end of it".

I literally jolted the first time I heard that line.  It is a heavyweight punch to the ribs.  Most songwriters would have thrown it in the trash.

[Al_4_ISU 12666]

. . . the master stroke is, of course "If I'd fucked her before she got sick, I'd never hear the end of it".
I literally jolted the first time I heard that line.  It is a heavyweight punch to the ribs.  Most songwriters would have thrown it in the trash.

That’s why I don’t fully subscribe to your “next Prine” comparison. Isbell never makes me smile the way Prine does, and Prine never made me physically react the way Elephant did. It’s the most emotionally jarring song I’ve ever heard.

Todd Snider would be the modern heir to Prine, in my mind. I’m not sure I have a readily available comparison to Isbell from that era. He hits such savage depression. McMurtry is pretty close on that front, but they seem like contemporaries.

[bluto 5000]

Also love this one from elephant

“Surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone”

And then sometimes he just doesn’t dance around it

“There's one thing that's real clear to me: No one dies with dignity”



I’ve always been a little lost on this one though

“I've buried her a thousand times, given up my place in line
But I don't give a damn about that now”

[Al_4_ISU 12666]

Also love this one from elephant

“Surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone”

And then sometimes he just doesn’t dance around it

“There's one thing that's real clear to me: No one dies with dignity”



I’ve always been a little lost on this one though

“I've buried her a thousand times, given up my place in line
But I don't give a damn about that now”

I thought he was saying he’d have rather given his life up and let her live rather than die how she did, but he’s over it because we’re all going down the same way so fuck it.

[Al_4_ISU 12666]

“John Henry was a steel drivin’ bastard, but John Henry was a bastard just the same. And an engine never thinks about his daddy, and an engine never needs to write his name”

That line always guts me. Never understood why this song doesn’t get more attention.

[hullabelew 3730]

On 4/1/2021 at 10:36 PM, Buzzrock said:

 

Holy fuck...Yoakam's drummer.  As Tom Waits says, "Someone needs to chain that boy up".  WOW

[tbone_ 14475]

I thought he was saying he’d have rather given his life up and let her live rather than die how she did, but he’s over it because we’re all going down the same way so fuck it.

This is what I always thought.

Elephant is a hard song to listen to. So I don’t much.

[Viper 12221]

On 4/1/2021 at 9:36 PM, Buzzrock said:

 

Would not call this epic at all. It's good, but I think it's getting so much love because 1) It's better than what most people expected from Post Malone and 2) Dwight Yoakam's band

[4th&Five 42026]

Here’s the original line. They had this at the R&R HoF when I was there. 
 

[tbone_ 14475]

Red Lion. Perfect.

[noharleyyet 2865]

First time I ear pod'd this song thought it was Henley....certainly Eagle'ish til I figured it out. Beautiful work....

 

[tbone_ 14475]

Man I would kill to get my acoustic tone to sound like that.

[jimmyjazz 47341]

6 hours ago, tbone_ said:

Man I would kill to get my acoustic tone to sound like that.

I would kill to sing like that.  He's so underrated as a vocalist.  It's effortless for him.  No histrionics, no fireworks, just dead nuts on perfect pitch, with a nice burnished tone.

Some people just got it, and some people just don't.  #ahem

[Buzzrock 15158]

On 4/15/2021 at 9:19 PM, jimmyjazz said:

. . . the master stroke is, of course "If I'd fucked her before she got sick, I'd never hear the end of it".

I literally jolted the first time I heard that line.  It is a heavyweight punch to the ribs.  Most songwriters would have thrown it in the trash.

The line that makes me catch my breath every time I see him live is “But I sobered up, I swore off that stuff, forever this time.” The crowd reaction just amplifies it. 

[Buzzrock 15158]

 

[Buzzrock 15158]

https://twitter.com/jasonisbell/status/1381016529769275393?s=21

[Pescado_Rojo 19593]

Man, Tupelo is one of those songs that every time it comes up on a playlist or something I end up listening to it 3 or 4 times. 

[Al_4_ISU 12666]

Man, Tupelo is one of those songs that every time it comes up on a playlist or something I end up listening to it 3 or 4 times. 

My favorite on Nashville Sound.

[Al_4_ISU 12666]

The line that makes me catch my breath every time I see him live is “But I sobered up, I swore off that stuff, forever this time.” The crowd reaction just amplifies it. 

I think it’s really cool how that line impacts people, but as a guy that likes to drink beer at concerts, I never feel like I should be getting too into that moment. I loathe hypocrisy more than I loathe Nebraska.

I mean I’m really happy for Jason cleaning up and saving himself, but I feel like a dick hoisting a tall boy to it.

[tbone_ 14475]

That doesn’t bother me. I can drink beer without a problem. He unfortunately had a problem and I’m glad he beat it.

[tbone_ 14475]

Plus, seems like his issue was more than just beer at a concert.

[noharleyyet 2865]

“I used to think I was an artist. Come to find out I’m a beer salesman.”

James McMurtry