Former Drive-By Trucker Jason Isbell on the road to Dublin
From Green Hill, Alabama — near Muscle Shoals — singer, songwriter and guitarist Jason Isbell plays in Dublin next Sunday. Probably best known as a member of Drive-By Truckers, the band he left in 2007, the 34-year-old has released four solo records. His most recent, Southeastern, has earned him a glut of positive reviews on both sides of the Atlantic. The 12-song opus was written following a spell in rehab, prompting the remark, “This time I want to remember it all”. In addition to Isbell’s life-changing sobriety, last February he married Lubbock Texas native and singer/songwriter, Amanda Shires.
“The change in my lifestyle has helped me a lot in pretty much every aspect of my life,” he admits. “But when it comes to writing it’s given me a whole lot more time and focus. Some people say that you’re not as creative when you sober up but I think that’s an excuse not to sober up, honestly. It’s more of an excuse that anything else. For me, if I keep working, I find that that’s the thing that helps me the most — the actual process of sitting down and doing the work. Having another seven or eight hours in the day when I’m not busy, either getting drunk or recovering, has helped a lot.”
