COVERS ALBUM: Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit ~ Georgia Blue

[Ruby]

JASON ISBELL AND THE 400 UNIT ~ Georgia Blue



During the most recent USA elections, Isbell had tweeted that if the state turned blue, he’d make an album of Georgia related songs in honour of the moment and donate the proceeds to various non-profit organisations. Well, he’s a man of his word – or at least of his Twitter account! There are several guest artists along for the ride, and his choice of songs is eclectic. Two R.E.M. numbers, which reminds me – I watched an episode or two of Song Exploder on Netflix, one of which was about “Losing My Religion”. Worth checking out IMHO.

From Bandcamp - https://jasonisbell.bandcamp.com/album/georgia-blue

… “I will admit my motivations were a bit selfish. For years, I’ve been looking for an excuse to record these songs with my band and some friends. The songs on this album are some of my favorite Georgia-related songs, but the tracklist is not meant to be comprehensive. I would love to cover Outkast and 2 Chainz, but I don’t think the finished product would be very good. We’re a rock band, so we covered rock songs. We have roots in blues and R&B, so we enlisted some brilliant artists to help us pull off songs by Precious Bryant, James Brown, and Gladys Knight.

My favorite part of the Georgia Blue recording process was having the opportunity to work with these very special artists, and I thank them: Amanda Shires, Brittney Spencer, Adia Victoria, Brandi Carlile, Julien Baker, Béla Fleck, Chris Thile, Steve Gorman, Peter Levin, and John Paul White.”

Tracklisting – (* those I like)

1. “Nightswimming” (R.E.M.) feat. Béla Fleck and Chris Thile
2. “Honeysuckle Blue” (Drivin’ N’ Cryin’) feat. Sadler Vaden
3. “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” (James Brown) feat. Brittney Spencer
4. “Cross Bones Style” (Cat Power) feat. Amanda Shires * - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHZQywB0Lu4
5. “The Truth” (Precious Bryant) feat. Adia Victoria * - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl9g--9Z44Y
6. “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” (Otis Redding)
7. “Sometimes Salvation” (The Black Crowes) feat. Steve Gorman
8. “Kid Fears” (Indigo Girls) feat. Julien Baker and Brandi Carlile * - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CII5TVRX_ic
9. “Reverse” (Now It’s Overhead)
10. “Midnight Train to Georgia” (Gladys Knight & The Pips) feat. Brittney Spencer and John Paul White * - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rKzhwWL43A
11. “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” (The Allman Brothers Band) feat. Peter Levin
12. “I’m Through” (Vic Chesnutt)
13. “Driver 8” (R.E.M.) feat. John Paul White* - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFoVBlrm9Yw

Personally, I don’t care for several of these, but I found “Cross Bones Style” unusual and compelling, to a point -  Amanda Shires is fab fiddle player and has a good voice. I’m not familiar with much of Cat Power’s stuff and am not crazy about what I have heard (which probably puts me in the minority!), so don't really have a frame of reference. 

Listened to the release purely for the music, not the political stance which doesn’t affect me one way or another, or maybe it does, but what I mean is it doesn’t alter my take on the album.

I thought “The Truth”, “Kid Fears” (interestingly Michael Stipe sings backing vocals on the original – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_7-3NKLSDE) and “Midnight Train to Georgia” were all well done. Not keen on their rendition of “Nightswimming” while I didn’t mind “Driver 8”.

[Music Head]

enters the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart at #83

courtesy of Spotify

shame he had to make it political by tying it to a Biden victory
was only familiar with 3 of these covers going in
I think the 12 minute Allman Brothers instrumental cover 
pushed it into negative territory for me'

[Ruby]

^Yep - 5 of the 13 tracks were good listening for me - the rest not. I had high expectations of him - quite like some of his stuff. Oh well ...