My job requires me to travel on fairly regular basis and allows me to go to some fairly interesting locations, as well as some down right wretched ones. It is a fairly indiscriminate occupation in the regard. Regardless of the destination, I am not and have never been a “room service” guy. I complete the work that I made the trip for and then make it a priority to get out of the hotel and see whatever that particular City, Town, Province, or Parrish has to offer.
Last week I found myself in Nashville on the same night that Jason Isbell was performing at The Mercy Lounge. This was far more than just good fortune, this was the equivalent of some celestial alignment, as I had just missed his show in my own town a few weeks earlier (ironically, because I was traveling for work). Needless to say I attended the show. I believe that I was the fourth or fifth person to arrive at The Mercy, depending on whether you count the bartender. It was a while before show time which resulted in a solid 4 beer wait time. People trickled in over that time and by show time the crowd was large and comprised mostly of floppy haired frat boys with sunglasses hanging around their neck (the number one fashion accessory of the Southern douche bag) and their very pretty girlfriends wearing sundresses and pretending to loooooooove Jason Isbell.
After suffering through the gloomy, off-key warbling of opener Jessica Mayfield, Isbell casually strolled on stage, plugged his guitar in, raised the beer he was drinking in acknowledgement of the crowd and then launched into his powerful set. Other than telling the crowd (which had grown a little too large for the smallish bar to handle) that he was “selling some shit there in the back of the room” and, later, that he was “taking a 10 minute break to smoke a cigarette”, Isbell stayed mostly introverted, preferring to let his songs tell the stories rather than waste any time doing it himself. Throughout the well over two hour set he deftly alternated between songs from his Drive By Truckers past (Decoration Day, Danko/Manuel) and his solo present (Chicago Promenade, Razor Town), with a couple of solid covers thrown in for good measure. While he probably will never be known as a great entertainer, Jason Isbell proved yet again that he is an incredibly talented musician and one of his generation’s best song writers.
Last week I found myself in Nashville on the same night that Jason Isbell was performing at The Mercy Lounge. This was far more than just good fortune, this was the equivalent of some celestial alignment, as I had just missed his show in my own town a few weeks earlier (ironically, because I was traveling for work). Needless to say I attended the show. I believe that I was the fourth or fifth person to arrive at The Mercy, depending on whether you count the bartender. It was a while before show time which resulted in a solid 4 beer wait time. People trickled in over that time and by show time the crowd was large and comprised mostly of floppy haired frat boys with sunglasses hanging around their neck (the number one fashion accessory of the Southern douche bag) and their very pretty girlfriends wearing sundresses and pretending to loooooooove Jason Isbell.
After suffering through the gloomy, off-key warbling of opener Jessica Mayfield, Isbell casually strolled on stage, plugged his guitar in, raised the beer he was drinking in acknowledgement of the crowd and then launched into his powerful set. Other than telling the crowd (which had grown a little too large for the smallish bar to handle) that he was “selling some shit there in the back of the room” and, later, that he was “taking a 10 minute break to smoke a cigarette”, Isbell stayed mostly introverted, preferring to let his songs tell the stories rather than waste any time doing it himself. Throughout the well over two hour set he deftly alternated between songs from his Drive By Truckers past (Decoration Day, Danko/Manuel) and his solo present (Chicago Promenade, Razor Town), with a couple of solid covers thrown in for good measure. While he probably will never be known as a great entertainer, Jason Isbell proved yet again that he is an incredibly talented musician and one of his generation’s best song writers.
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