Green Hill, AL · americana · southern rock

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

1 upcoming festival

Unsparing, novelistic songwriting about the South, played by a band that can still level a room with a guitar solo.

Jason Isbell grew up in Green Hill, in the Muscle Shoals area of northern Alabama, and spent several years as a guitarist and songwriter in Drive-By Truckers before leaving in 2007. The 400 Unit, named after a psychiatric unit in Florence, Alabama, has backed him since 2009, with a line-up long anchored by guitarist Sadler Vaden and keyboard player Derry deBorja.

The songs are detailed and character-driven, dealing with addiction, family, class and mortality, and they sit somewhere between country, folk and Southern rock. "Cover Me Up," "24 Frames" and "If We Were Vampires" are among the most frequently cited, and Isbell has won several Grammy Awards in the Americana categories. Live, the band tends to alternate quiet, wordy material with extended guitar playing.

americanasouthern rock