Features
Jason Isbell Books August-September Performances
Jason Isbell has a bunch of new U.S. tour dates to go along with his album due out next month. The tour features his band, the 400 Unit, with support from Frank Turner And The Sleeping Souls and Amanda Shires.
John Davisson – Jason Isbell
Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival, Sunshine Grove, Okeechobee, Fla.
The Nashville Sound, is the first album attributed to Isbell and the 400 Unit since 2011’s Here We Rest. The band has been earning praise for the single “Cumberland Gap,” with Noisey writer Annalise Domenighini declaring, “Jason Isbell Is Still The Best Songwriter Country Music Has.”
Paste’s Jared McNett writes, “With his former band The 400 Unit backing him up, Isbell blazes through the dusty and abandoned trails of the titular Appalachian pass. The song’s character at every turn and every squall of guitar is just trying to get out of Dodge. A small town’s bars are no longer an escape but another form of oppression. There’s not much wealth to be spread around. The mines have shut down, and one of the few opportunities for employment is to go fight in some bullshit war. … It’s certainly one of the more darkly affective tunes Isbell has crafted, and absolutely one of this year’s best rock songs.”
In addition to pursuing her own career, Shires performs and records with the 400 Unit and happens to be Isbell’s wife.
Isbell & The 400 Unit has a busy schedule ahead of them with dates stretching from May to November. The new run of U.S. gigs begins Aug. 20 at Shreveport Municipal Auditorium in Louisiana.
The August-September leg includes Tulsa, Okla.; Columbus, Ohio; Chicago; Portland, Ore.; Seattle; Los Angeles; and Charlotte, N.C. Isbell has also announced one show in Canada – Aug. 29 at Massey Hall in Toronto.
Ticket onsales for the newly added performances begin May 5.
Visit Isbell’s Pollstar artist page to see the full schedule.