Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit Remain Vital & Poignant On Memorable ‘Weathervanes’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

Photo by Danny Clinch

If you watched the HBO Max documentary, Running with Our Eyes Closed, principally about Jason Isbell and his partner Amanda Shires, but also involving the band members of the 400 Unit, you understand the care and thought that goes into his songs which he brings to his band, to let them color in the music and harmonies beyond his idea of a melody. And how he relies on Shires, who has a master’s degree in creative writing, to scrutinize every detail in the lyrics. Isbell takes his job seriously – all of it from the writing to the recording to the performing. He’s still evolving as a husband, as a parent, and he will humbly admit, as a songwriter too. That’s the fodder for Weathervanes, as it’s his first foray in some time without noted producer, Dave Cobb.

His closely knit 400 Unit remains as vital as ever, comprised of Derry deBorja (keyboards, background vocals), Chad Gamble (drums and percussion), Jimbo Hart (electric bass, upright bass), and Sadler Vaden (various guitars, background Vocals). Special guests include Shires (fiddle, background Vocals) and harmonicist Mickey Raphael (“Strawberry Woman”) with producer and engineer Sylvia Massy & Ian Rickard on background vocals for “If You Insist,” Morgan O’Shaughnessey is on strings for “Death Wish.” The latter is a single and the opening track, about being in love with someone suffering from depression. It could be applied to a lover or a child with its enduring lines – Who’s gonna save you, who’s left to pray to/What’s the difference in a breakdown and a breakthrough?” The muscular music belies the fragility of the theme. “The King of Oklahoma” is a mid-tempo narrative about a desperate character whose life is decaying by the day, perhaps suggesting a similar period in Isbell’s post DBT/pre-Shires life. Sadler’s screaming guitar solo puts a cap on it.  The acoustically (-Southeastern like) strummed affectionate “Strawberry Woman” is presumably about Isbell’s first and lasting impressions of Shires. 

The single “Middle of the Morning” is a penultimate pandemic song sung most expressively where the narrator is Isbell but could be any one of us trying to gather sanity during those times – “Well I’ve tried to open up my window and let the light come in/I step outside in the middle of the morning and in the evening again.” The third single is the accordion-imbued ballad “Cast Iron Skillet,” where Isbell reflects on his southern upbringing, casing aside the nostalgic parts of it, referencing growing up without a dad,  finding the album title in the lyric that follows and essaying how difficult it is to learn from the past if we romanticize it too much – “Don’t wash the cast iron skillet/This town won’t get no better, will it/She found love and it was as simple as a weathervane/But her own family tried to kill it.”

The poignant “Save the World” speaks to the fears parents have of sending their children to school in this tragic time of mass shootings, a subject matched by Isbell’s searing emotional vocal delivery. “If You Insist” explores that barren territory that exists between couples, the void between wanting one’s own space and the comfort of the other. One can’t help but read Isbell’s hardscrabble childhood/adolescence into the harrowing “Volunteer.” “When We Were Close” begins with a Stones-like riff but lacks the kind of infectious chorus of one of his better rock n’ roll tune, “Super 8 Motel.” Arguably “This Ain’t It” is the better rock n’ roll song, reminiscent in the theme of Dylan’s lyric “What’s a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?” Yet, it too loses its initial musical fury, fading into a mid-tempo outro like too many of these.

Isbell plies the tug-and-war between the touring musician’s life and that of suburban comfort o family life in the sprawling “Vestalia Hills,” sung from the perspective of someone who knows both. His “White Beretta” references an old compact sports car, not the pistol. It’s got some of those restless Springsteen themes of youthful romance and escape. “Miles” closes, building intensely as it explores the dichotomy between the nostalgic bliss of early love to the emotional strains of being middle-aged parents, a thread that runs through much of the album. 

Lyrically, this is mixed but has its strong points.  Few write with his kind of insight. Yet, musically it fails to generate enough sparks with most of the songs stuck in similar mid-tempo modes. The true ballads are strong and like most of his albums, three or four of these will make it to his live set lists, likely the three singles and perhaps “When We Was Close,” “This Ain’t It” or “Miles.” 

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One Response

  1. “White Beretta” references an old compact sports car, not the pistol. It’s got some of those restless Springsteen themes of youthful romance and escape.“

    Dude. This song is about a young man driving his teen-aged girlfriend over the state line to get an abortion.

    I’ll never trust your reviews again. Bonny in New Mexico

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