JASON ISBELL AND THE 400 UNIT : LIVE FROM THE RYMAN

JASON ISBELL AND THE 400 UNIT : LIVE FROM THE RYMAN

Hope The High Road
24 Frames
White Man's World
Flagship
Cumberland Gap
Something More Than Free
The Life You Chose
Elephant
Flying Over Water
Last Of My Kind
Cover Me Up
Super 8
If We Were Vampires

Label : Southeastern Records

Venue : Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Recording Date : October 9 - 15, 2017

Release Date : October 19, 2018

Length : 58:49

Review (AL.com) : About two years ago, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit started having every one of their shows recorded. So, while the Grammy-winning songwriter's band knew their six-night 2017 stand at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium was being taped, they had no idea that material would end up being a concert album. "I'm glad I didn't know, actually," 400 Unit drummer Chad Gamble says now, laughing. Gamble thinks this helped the band playing looser and more like themselves, than if they knew they were making "Live From The Ryman," which is being released Oct. 19. The album spotlights Isbell's progressive-Southerner tunesmithery and 400 Unit's focused, fluid clairvoyance. "Ryman" opens with the electric clang of "Hope The High Road." Thirteen songs later, it concludes with acoustic melancholy on "If We Were Vampires." Both tracks are from Isbell's 2017 studio disc "The Nashville Sound," the third in the Green Hill native's accolade-garnishing, post-booze album triptych, which also includes 2015's "Something More Than Free" and 2013's "Southeastern." "It's very musical, the up and down dynamic," Gamble says of "Live From The Ryman."

Review (Folk Alley) : Pretty much every musician who steps onto the Ryman Auditorium stage makes a comment about what a special place it is to play. What was once the Union Gospel Tabernacle and then the Grand Ole Opry House has hosted thousands and thousands of performances over its 126-year history, from church services to radio shows to rock concerts. All that history is held within its walls, windows, floors, and pews. From that perspective, it’s easy to see why Americana’s favorite son, Jason Isbell, has chosen to perform a string of five or six shows there every October for the past few years when he could make a lot more money playing one or two nights down the road at Ascend Amphitheater. It’s a spiritual decision he’s making, purposely choosing to nurture his soul rather than his wallet. And the joy and gratitude he feels from standing on that hallowed stage, being part of its deep history, comes through in his heartfelt performances, as evidenced on Live from the Ryman. Recorded during his 2017 Ryman run, the set culls songs from Isbell’s last three records: Southeastern, Something More Than Free, and The Nashville Sound. If someone needed a Jason Isbell primer, this collection would be a pretty great entry point, as it works through rockers and weepers, alike, to offer up the full breadth of his songwriting talent. Having all three of his stunning love songs — “Cover Me Up,” “Flagship,” and “If We Were Vampires” — in one place is reason enough to want this album on your shelf, but there’s so much more to enjoy. Backed by his rock & roll band, the 400 Unit — Sadler Vaden (guitar), Jimbo Hart (bass), Chad Gamble (drums), Derry DeBorja (keys), and Amanda Shires (fiddle) — Isbell shows, song by song, why he’s the current high water mark for singer/songwriters of pretty much any genre, from the political potency of “Hope the High Road” and “White Man’s World” to the rural profundity of “Cumberland Gap” and “Something More Than Free.” One of the most special things about this record is much more subtle, though: It’s the way the audience anticipates each song, reacting enthusiastically to the opening chords of, say, the absolutely devastating commentary on cancer that is “Elephant.” It takes a remarkably special artist to harvest a fanbase with that kind of dedication to and appreciation of the craft of songwriting. That’s Jason Isbell, folks. And that’s why he’ll probably end up playing a whole month of shows at Ryman Auditorium before he’ll bump up to Bridgestone Arena. Catch one of those shows, if ever you can. Until then, Live from the Ryman is a pretty solid seat warmer.

Review (Saving Country Music) : Jason Isbell has ascended to being considered the King of Americana by making all of the right moves at the right time. Yes, composing incredible songs, and performing them with passion has been part of the magic that has made him so popular that he’s even broken through the glass ceiling of Americana and found himself nominated for a CMA Award to go along with his multiple Grammys. But it’s also been the expert management of Traci Thomas, the support of Thirty Tigers, the strong work of producer Dave Cobb, and fortuitous timing in general that has put this independent songwriter at the top of the heap in American music. Isbell’s Ryman Auditorium residencies over the last few years have become a thing of legend all to themselves. Stringing together multiple sold-out nights, putting together important lists of openers and guests, and then delivering when the lights come up has been an important part of his ascent. In some ways his success and reception at the Ryman has been the rock, and the wellspring from where Jason Isbell’s success has emanated. Making a live record from the building only seemed natural, if not necessary. But the simple truth is that Live From The Ryman is a rare misstep by Isbell and his crew. There’s nothing specifically wrong from the performances on this record, which were taken from his 2017 residency at the Mother Church of Country Music. There’s nothing much to second guess with the set list or sequencing of the record specifically. Perhaps you could wish for a bit more stage banter, or maybe a cool collaboration with someone to make the cut, which is common on live releases. But the ultimate failing of Live From The Ryman is that the record was just poorly recorded to the point of being flat out unflattering to Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, and unrepresentative of what many have seen them do live at the Ryman and other concert venues across the United States and the world. Live From The Ryman just sounds bad, and whether it was poor mic placement and isolation from the stage, decisions made in the mixing or mastering process, bad moves when it came to what performances to select, or a combination of all of these things, it just doesn’t result in what you would hope from a record with Jason Isbell’s name printed on the front of it. And what’s even more frustrating is the recordings were made over a six day period, which should have given them plenty of opportunity to listen to what they had, make any necessary adjustments, and get it right to ensure the songs and performances of arguably the most important figure in Americana music were represented well in the live context. From the opening song “Hope The High Road,” the drums are barely audible, the bass is incredibly boomy, the rhythm guitar is way too loud, and Jason sounds like he’s singing underwater. There’s little clarity, virtually no separation, and the entire experience is so echo-filled, you feel like you’re hearing physical mistakes by the 400 Unit, even if there aren’t any. It’s just too muddy for most of this record, and not something you can blame on the venue, or the players specifically, unless Isbell & Co. were just off six nights in a row, which is hard to believe. And it’s not about sacrificing quality to make sure you capture the energy of the performances. Even the energy feels low, despite the recordings likely having plenty of energy when they occurred. And when the finish product was being finalized, the people involved must have known what they had was below the standard Jason Isbell has set for himself, and the standards the pantheon of live recordings has achieved over the years, including from eras when technology and understandings of acoustics were not nearly as advanced as they are today. Emmylou Harris’s At The Ryman from 1992 is a critically-important live record taped in the same space a quarter century ago, and is light years ahead of Live From The Ryman in audio quality. It was also an important record, because at the time the Ryman had been virtually abandoned, and Emmylou’s insistence upon recording a live album in the hall is what helped bring it back to life. Jason Isbell’s Live From The Ryman is not all bad though. When the instrumentation is drawn down, the bad audio quality issues diminish, and quality performances emerge. The extended versions of “Last Of My Kind” and “Cover Me Up” near the end of the record help rescue the effort, even though they’re still less than ideal. It’s also important to note that live albums, just like EPs, often get relegated to the second tier of an artist’s release menu. If this misstep was made on a studio album, we might be talking about Jason Isbell loosing his momentum. Still, what’s so frustrating about this release is it feels so avoidable. He didn’t have to release this record if the experiment of recording at the Ryman failed. In the pretty harsh reviews on Amazon and iTunes you can find a few accusations claiming this release is an outright cash grab by the Isbell camp. I’m not sure this is the case. But someone in this process should have put up a stop sign. As a bootleg for Record Store Day distributed in limited quantities, perhaps it flies. Isbell’s Live From Alabama released in 2012 from Lightning Rod Records is a far superior live work from Isbell and the 400 Unit. Frankly, the 2008 EP Live at Twist and Shout released in 2018 as part of Record Store Day by New West—and that Jason Isbell disapproved of and said was no good—is still better audio quality than Live From The Ryman. This won’t be a career killer for Jason Isbell, because fans are more inclined to overlook a live recording as opposed to using it to define their feelings on an artist. But it’s nonetheless disappointing because it could have been such a cool release as a capstone to Jason Isbell’s Ryman experiences, and continued to help carry the momentum of his career until the next studio release. Now a new studio record can’t happen fast enough to remove the bad taste. Sales of this record have also been strong due to Jason Isbell’s loyal fan base and specifically from pre-orders before full previews were available. They trusted him and his team, and it’s understandable how some feel let down. The songs, and many of the performances captured on Live From The Ryman are still strong. It’s not like this record is a complete dud. But it could and should have been so much better. Audio quality was an unforced error, and now your only opportunity to experience the magic of Jason Isbell at the Ryman will be if you’ve seen him there before, or can catch him there in the future.