this is jason’s second live album, the other being 2012’s ‘live from alabama’. just like that one did, ‘live from the ryman’ focuses on material from his last three studio albums: ‘southeastern’ (2013), ‘something more than free’ (2015), and last year’s ‘the nashville sound’.

the band has become to the ryman what the allman brothers once were to new york’s beacon theater. they have fourteen consecutive sellouts from 2014 through 2017, and are in the middle of their 2018 six night run right now. all of the material presented here is from the 2017 run, and the thirteen songs were hand selected by jason. the album is mixed by dave cobb, who also produced the last three albums. (they also worked together on the soundtrack to ‘a star is born’, with bradley cooper singing an isbell penned tune, ‘maybe it’s time’). in my mind cobb’s work on ‘southeastern’ is one of the reasons he is one of the most sought after producers in nashville. he has stated that he wanted the listening experience to make it feel like you’re right there in the audience. one of my first impressions is that you may be a little too close. the crowd noise is up in the mix, and there are a number of guys and maybe one female in the audience who feel compelled to give out a ‘whooo’ a little too often. other than that the band sounds great.

i have seen them three times over the last 18 months and this is pretty indicative of their usual performance. i think the best songs are the ones selected from ‘southeastern’, especially ‘elephant’. i never grow tired of that song. if you are not familiar with jason’s work, i would start with that album. his latest two don’t quite match up, in my opinion. this live album would also be a good introduction. ‘last of my kind’, off of ‘nashville sound’ is also a highlight here, mostly due to the band airing it out a little bit between lyrics and making it the only song that is significantly different than the studio versions of the rest.

which leads me to my only real criticism of the offering. if it wasn’t for the crowd, you might not know that it was live. no extended jams, covers or other features you might expect from a live concert. i know from experience that he does do this during shows, but for some reason chose not to include them in this release. still, you really can’t go wrong with a little more jason isbell in your collection.

as a curious aside, some of you may know that he gave up drinking a while ago, before these last three albums were recorded. of the 13 songs, my rough calculation is that he mentions drugs or alcohol in at least ten of them. maybe he lives vicariously through his characters. whatever it takes to keep him clean and healthy is ok with me.

this is john hiatt’s first new recording in four years, his longest pause since the seventies. now 66, much of the material is reflective in nature. whether acknowledging his own shortcomings as a person, reconsidering old romances, or staring at his impending demise, the songs here are well constructed and honest. recorded in nashville last summer (three of the songs were recorded the day of the eclipse, hence the title), the arrangements are sparse but appropriate. kenneth blevins provides the drums, much like he has since ‘slow turning’ in 1987. and then we add some organ and a blend of acoustic and electric guitars for a nice folk/rock blend (check out the j.j.cale style leads in ‘over the hill’ below).

fans of his work will recognize his typical songwriting patterns and wry humor. this is probably my favorite album of his since ‘crossing muddy waters’. he seems to know that time is running out (and his voice is not what it once was), but he still has something to say and has the integrity to do it the right way.

he is going out on a solo tour starting saturday in new orleans. he has eighty songs prepared and will do about 25 a night he says, taking requests. should be a good show if he comes to your area.