“There’s so much more to suffer through / Before I meet again with you,” he sings.

After all, Isbell … I hope you find something to love here if you haven’t already. It's easy to see why the band was drawn to the song: Isbell's original — which was inspired by a high school acquaintance, Marine Cpl. It’s simple, but it works like a precursor to so much of what Isbell would release going forward.

“Chicago Promenade” is right at the intersection of grief and love—classic Isbell. There’s a lot to glean from this, but one of the most important takeaways could just be empathy: Everyone you meet is going through something, and while someone may be “relatively” happy, healthy, etc., it’s still important to be gentle with them, because you never know the full scope of their brokenness. I can’t offer the ultimate, end-all-be-all ranking of Jason Isbell songs, but I can point the uninitiated among you to these songs as a damn fine starting point for one of the best musicians in Americana and beyond.

On the verse, “I’ve grown tired of traveling alone, won’t you ride with me?” you can hear Isbell’s wife and fellow 400 Unit player Amanda Shires singing and playing her fiddle for one of the first times in his career, and it’s a deeply touching arrangement. Isbell played with the Drive-By Truckers from 2001 to 2007, and they uncoincidentally recorded some of their best work during that time. The musician and ace bandleader is lauded across the music industry and the country at large for his skills as a lyricist and singer.

But along with the pain comes lots of faith, albeit modest. Shires adds elegiac fiddle and subtle backing vocals to the song, amplifying its ache. Leave feedback. “Hurricanes and Hand Grenades” is a country-classic New Orleans bender, “Grown” is a sweet soft-rock-inspired love song and “Chicago Promenade” is the rare piano ballad that morphs into a striking rock track. Some user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. "That was a hard one for me to even get through without breaking down the first time, because that one is really personal," he told NPR in 2013. This 2013 Isbell song acutely captures the crushing loneliness of the open road, especially when you're traveling by yourself and longing for a companion: "I know every town worth passing through," he says. Each of his solo albums, 400 Unit records or songs written with his first band The Drive-By Truckers, is a masterclass in narrative. Isbell - who joined the Truckers in 2001 - left the band in early 2007 around the same time as his divorce from Tucker was finalized. But, being from Alabama, there’s a certain pride in knowing Isbell keeps things close to home. Here Isbell reckons with his privilege—both as a man and a white person—and does it with nothing but empathy and regret, especially for when he was “one of the guys.” It’s not up to just one person or group to end misogyny and racism and hate. And while there’s darkness lurking beneath this story’s haha moments, it’s ultimately a just-for-fun rock song, full of Sunday-morning regrets. This one is truly difficult to withstand without crying, but the visceral reactions that “Elephant” incites are why this song is so everlasting. But sometimes gazing across the fence into lusher pastures is the only way to get through the day. Wasting no time, he sings, “Don’t wanna die in a Super 8 motel / Just because somebody’s evening didn’t go so well.” It’s a souped-up country rocker, as well as a kooky, character-driven southern tale. Credited to Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, this Americana Music Award-winning song presaged the stripped-back, straight-shooting direction that Isbell would take on future solo albums.

Go directly to shout page. Right up there with Nick Saban and Hannah Brown, he’s one of America’s favorite and most trusted Alabamians (even if he does call Nashville home now). The title track from one of the greatest southern rock albums this side of Eat a Peach, “Decoration Day” is the tale of an ongoing family feud. Isbell begins this song listing everything he (or his character) dislikes about the city slog, from the dirty streets to the lack of starlight to people’s disregard for the homeless. This is Isbell’s version of “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” and it’s just as good and true as John Denver’s twisty journey through West Virginia. If you’re already a fan, this list probably won’t hold many surprises, but it holds a lot of importance. I’ve not yet found an album of his that I don’t want to frequently return to.

Matthew D. Conley, who was killed while in the line of duty — is a wrenching, plainspoken remembrance of war's casualties. They’re also frequently all-encompassing summaries of the human condition, or, more recently, something bordering on protest music. And as if that wasn't enough, Isbell's newest album, 2017's The Nashville Sound, also took home two Grammy Awards and was nominated at the CMA Awards. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s new album Reunions is out Friday, May 15. The Avett Brothers Are Getting 'a Lesson in Patience' in 2020. Isbell told Paste upon the song’s release, “I started to examine my own notions about mortality, when I realized that to write a love song, you have to write a death song.” But sadness doesn’t necessarily reign on this “death song.” “If We Were Vampires” is a thoughtful acceptance of life’s shortness and a thank-you letter to the person you choose to grace with the bulk of that all-too precious time. Isbell asks, “Somebody take me home through those Alabama pines” before dropping little glints of wisdom like “No one gives a damn about the things I give a damn about / The liberties that we can’t do without seem to disappear / like ghosts in the air / When we don’t even care, it truly vanishes away.” And the song has a lovely locomotive country-rock rhythm to match the lyrics’ mobile nature. Jason Isbell is extremely good at writing songs. And when he’s playing with his band the 400 Unit, he’s also arguably one of the fiercest forces in rock music.

This is one of those aforementioned rockers.