Jason Isbell, 38, is one of the best representations of an artist being a product of his environment. The singer-songwriter himself says of his North Alabama upbringing, “I definitely don’t feel like I would be the musician that I am or the type of songwriter had I not come from that particular place. The soul music that came out of there, and a lot of the soul-influenced rock ’n’ roll and country music that came out of the studios in North Alabama in the ’60s and ’70s had a big influence on me,” he said in a 2012 Flagpole interview.
There’s a lot of heartbreak and broken promises that well up in that music. Look no further than Isbell’s “Cover Me Up” which won Song of the Year at the 2014 Americana Music Honors and Awards. “A heart on the run / Keeps a hand on the gun / You can’t trust anyone / I was so sure / What I needed was more / Tried to shoot out the sun.”
Isbell, whose music pulls from Americana, country and Southern rock, is a former member of Drive-By Truckers, one of the South’s greatest rock outfits. He is also a Grammy winner for Best American Roots Song—“24 Frames”—and Best Americana Album—Something More Than Free—in 2016. It’s a good time to see what one of America’s truest-to-his-region artists is cooking up.
House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, 7 p.m. March 16, starting at $35 plus tax and fee, 18+. 800.745.3000 Ticketmaster
