JASON ISBELL 2014

 

WITH TIFT MERRITT

JASON ISBELL will return to Australia in April 2014 for the first time with his full band, a brilliant new album Southeastern under his arm and new songs to play at shows in Victoria and NSW including Boogie Festival.

Jason Isbell, who has toured Australia in the past with Ryan Adams and Justin Townes Earle, will bring a swag of material to the stage as he rolls through his catalogue of songs from Sirens of the Ditch (2007), Jason Isbell, The 400 Unit (2009), Here We Rest (2011) and the new album Southeastern.

Recorded with producer David Cobb (Shooter Jennings, Jamey Johnson, Secret Sisters, George Jones) the new album Southeastern is not a record Jason has made before, and not simply because the glorious storm and drama of his band, the 400 Unit, is absent. They will tour together; it’s not a break-up record, not an album of dissolving, but, rather, songs of discovery.

The songs are invested with Jason’s particular, personal truths, but they’re not about him. Or, rather, the emotional truths are probably about the songwriter, but not the stories he’s telling. “Live Oak” opens with an a cappella verse: “There’s a man who walks beside me / He is who I used to be / I wonder if she sees him / And confuses him with me?” It is the kind of question a man asks as he readies to marry a woman who met him and knew him and loved him before sobriety stuck (and a question a singer might well ask his audience under the same circumstances), though the story is about a roving criminal in either the 18th or 20th centuries.

Supporting will be TIFT MERRITT showcasing songs from her sensational new album Travelling Alone. Her 2002 solo debut effort, Bramble Rose, put her on the Americana map forever. Her fans ranch from Patty Griffin and Rosanne Cash to Rick Moody and Nick Hornby (who devoted a chapter to Merritt in his 31 Songs book) and lead Emmylou Harris to say that Merritt “stood out like a diamond in a coal patch.” Enough said.

 

TOUR DATES

12/04/14

Auckland, NZ

Tuning Fork

13/04/14

Sydney, NSW

Factory Theatre

16/04/14

Melbourne, VIC

Northcote Social Club

17/04/14

Melbourne, VIC

Northcote Social Club

18/04/14

Tallarook, VIC

Boogie Festival

21/04/14

Byron Bay, NSW

East Coast Blues & Roots Festival

 

TIFT MERRITT

14/04/14

Melbourne, VIC

Mesa Verde

Ash Campbell