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The Raw Honesty of Reunions
Jason Isbell Releases the Strongest Work of His Career
Friday saw the release of the seventh solo album by singer/songwriter Jason Isbell, an artist who doesn’t shy away from honesty or his own personal ethos with the work of his craft. The album is the reflection of an artist refining his output to a level of earnest truth-telling and profundity found in introspection the likes of which most musical acts will only ever dream of achieving.
Listening to REUNIONS, one can’t help but be overwhelmed by its lack of pretense. Every song delivers these huge punches to the gut that leave you gasping for air. It’s the kind of record that makes you wonder out loud, “wow, how’d they come up with that?” From the soul-searching opener “What’ve I Done to Help?” to the first single “Be Afraid” and it’s heart-wrenching closer “Letting You Go,” this album is a masterclass of storytelling and melody, of guitar tone and song structure. It’s an album that not only resets the bar for what country music can achieve, it’s a career defining masterpiece from a songwriter who already gave us one career-defining masterpiece with his album Southeastern. I’d go so far as to claim this album is better than Southeastern, and that album has been spun countless times at my house, being one that I refer back to often in my musical journey. I already know this one will…
