Ravinia 2024 Issue 6

Not convinced? Isbell elaborated on his perspective two months ago in a conversation with the Los Angeles Daily News : “You go into a bookstore, and you’ve got fiction over here, nonfiction over there. But songs don’t work that way. And I feel like, as a songwriter, you’re allowed to tell as much or as little of the truth as you want, as long as you’re attempting to be honest throughout.” The Grammy winner has made his career on bracing honesty, which very much includes being frank about his own personal struggles and inner demons. But more compelling than his biography is how he harnesses his hard-earned com- passion into compelling songs about the complexities of living in a cruel world. Without knocking the entrancing melodies or his honey-on-sandpaper vocals, where Isbell truly excels is through his lyrics, which he infuses with bittersweet insight and aching regret. Exhibit A: “Elephant,” from his 2013 breakthrough album Southeastern , about a friend dying of cancer: Surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone So I’d sing her classic country songs And she’d get high and sing along She don’t have much voice to sing with now We burn these joints in effigy and cry about what we used to be And try to ignore the elephant somehow. Death wears a different cloak in Exhibit B, “If We Were Vampires.” This Grammy-winning song from 2017’s The Nashville Sound features backing vocals by his wife at the time, Amanda Shires: It’s knowing that this can’t go on forever Likely one of us will have to spend some days alone Maybe we’ll get 40 years together But one day I’ll be gone Or one day you’ll be gone Maybe time running out is a gift I’ll work hard till the end of my shift And give you every second I can find And hope it isn’t me who’s left behind And his most recent outing, Weathervanes , wouldn’t be a Jason Isbell album without a song that takes a piece of home- spun advice, examines it from a new perspective, and lands in an altered place of hard-won wisdom. Honored as the Best Americana Album at this year’s Grammy Awards, it includes his third Best American Roots Song trophy winner, “Cast Iron Skillet,” which contrasts small-town insights about life with some less savory American values: Jamie found a boyfriend With smiling eyes and dark skin And her daddy never spoke another word to her again He treats her like a queen But you don’t know ’cause you ain’t seen Don’t wash the cast iron skillet This town won’t get no better, will it? She found love and it was simple as a weather vane But her own family tried to kill it RAVINIAMAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2 – SEPTEMBER 15, 2024 8 DANNYCLINCH