A little late this week--could almost call it Tuesday Night Music Club...but I'm pretty sure that name's already taken....
This week's tune once again comes courtesy of my far too cool daughter, with an assist from my cooler than cool son-in-law. For some reason I thought it had been a lot more than ten years since they first introduced me to this week's artist...time flies when you're getting older.
Jason Isbell was born in 1979 in Green Hill (not Greenbow), Alabama, and began learning musical instruments at the age of six. By his teens he was playing in bands, and at age twenty-two joined Drive-By Truckers (he writes as if he's completely familiar with the band...that he never heard of before doing his half-assed research last week). Isbell released his first solo album in 2007, and the rest as they say is history. He's won four Grammy Awards and has had several acting roles including an appearance in an upcoming Martin Scorsese film. For his career Isbell has released eight studio albums (three of which have hit the top ten on the Billboard 200 which surprised the hell out of me), four live albums, and a whopping one single. Isbell will begin a tour this year in June.
Fun Fact: Isbell has been nominated for four Grammy Awards...and won four Grammy Awards. Not sure too many people have had perfect success when it comes to Grammy nominations.
"Super 8" was included on Isbell's fourth studio album, Southeastern. The song was not released as a single, and the album hit #23 on Billboard's top album chart. It was also ranked at #458 on Rolling Stone's 2020 list of the Five Hundred Greatest Albums of All-Time.
In "Super 8" Jason Isbell weaves the tale of a man on a bender (while not autobiographical, Isbell is a recovering alcoholic and did spend a number of years imbibing and ingesting which he freely admits he doesn't remember clearly) ending up in a Super 8 Motel with some other man's girlfriend...and the rather unpleasant event of her boyfriend showing up screaming like a banshee and armed with a fungo (along the lines of a baseball bat for those not familiar) bat. Isbell delivers a rollicking rockabilly performance, and his lyrics capture the moment with a simplicity that many a songwriter would die for. I often find it compelling when a song (or a movie or a book) depicts a life situation that is far removed from your life experience yet is so well done that it still strikes a resonant chord--and that is exactly what Isbell does with "Super 8."
Lyric Sheet: "Well they slapped me back to life/And telephoned my wife/And filled me full of Pedialyte/Saw my guts, saw my glory/It would make a great story/If I ever could remember it right..."
Enjoy:
Republicans = Losers
Peace,
emaycee
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