{"id":3630,"date":"2015-07-22T15:29:33","date_gmt":"2015-07-22T19:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/?p=3630"},"modified":"2015-07-30T12:33:44","modified_gmt":"2015-07-30T16:33:44","slug":"jason-isbell-something-more-than-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Jason Isbell <br>Something More Than Free"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/jason_isbell-something_more_than_free.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3631\" src=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/jason_isbell-something_more_than_free.jpg\" alt=\"Jason Isbell, Something More Than Free\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/jason_isbell-something_more_than_free.jpg 250w, https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/jason_isbell-something_more_than_free-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a>Jason Isbell returns with <i>Something More Than Free<\/i> (Southeastern Records), a subtler, more human-scaled record than his breakthrough <i>Southeastern<\/i>. Its pleasures might not be as aggressive or immediate as that of its predecessor, but it makes up for it with crystalline arrangements, evocative writing, and the best vocals Isbell\u2019s ever recorded.<\/p>\n<p>Memory hangs over this record like wisteria. \u201cHow to Forget\u201d is about the beauty and pain of being confronted with who you used to be. You can hear the knife twisting in his heart when Isbell pleads, \u201cNow that I\u2019ve found someone that makes me want to live, does that make my leaving harder to forget?\u201d He mirrors the back and forth of wanting and not wanting to forget with jangly sunshine pop juxtaposed with dark ink-washes of trebly electric guitar and a bassline telling the story under the story. \u201cThe Life You Chose\u201d is the tale of someone who got out of their little town, calling out to a fellow dreamer who didn\u2019t have that opportunity or the courage to grab it with, \u201cAre you living the life you chose or are you living the life that chose you? Do you live with a man who knows you like I thought I did back then?\u201d This song merges a train beat with the shadowy acoustic guitar of Athens college-rock and a soul-man ballad vocal (replete with strings and close harmonies), finding a blend that\u2019s perfectly of the South and completely fresh. Isbell seems to know that nostalgia can be a cancer or a blessing, and where you\u2019re from can crush you or give you the scars that make you interesting.<\/p>\n<p>Belief is also a key component. On \u201c24 Frames,\u201d a soliloquy trying to make sense of life, Isbell opens with, \u201cThis is how you make yourself vanish into nothing,\u201d accompanied only by his acoustic. Going on, as though into a mirror, the band slowly rises behind him as he half-angrily sing, \u201cYou thought God was an architect, now you know he\u2019s something like a pipe-bomb ready to blow,\u201d and the song blooms into a soaring, muscular anthem. The band\u2014especially Chad Gamble\u2019s drumming, Amanda Shires\u2019 violin, and Sadler Vaden\u2019s searing guitar\u2014tracks the character\u2019s transformation from learning to care about himself to learning to care about another to learning to let things go. \u201cFlagship\u201d is the most straightforward love song on the record. The vital power of empathy is displayed as someone watches an old couple and is gripped by the terror that he and his lover will end up that way, \u201csitting there a million miles apart.\u201d The intimacy is reinforced by Isbell\u2019s almost-whispered vocal slipping around the beat, accompanied almost exclusively by Shires\u2019 voice and violin, with only wisps of Derry DeBorja\u2019s organ for coloring. It also has the line closest to the record\u2019s theme: \u201cYou\u2019ve got to try and keep yourself naive. In spite of all the evidence, believe. Volunteer to lose touch with the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>Something More Than Free<\/i> is a reminder to watch, listen, and try to connect with the moment. It achieves this with concrete detail and a love for the people being written about that comes through in every line, even as the writer holds them accountable. It also does it through Dave Cobb\u2019s production, so close on Isbell\u2014center frame at all times\u2014that every breath and every movement of his hand across his guitar\u2019s strings has the familiarity of a lover\u2019s touch and the immediacy of an explosion. Isbell\u2019s crack band, The 400 Unit, has a unique knack for following the thematic material lyrically and musically even when on diverging tracks. The band never overplays, but provides enough subtle pieces of the puzzle, as well as negative space, that it feels like the listener would never get the same meaning off a lyric sheet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jason Isbell returns with <i>Something More Than Free<\/i>, a subtler, more human-scaled record than his breakthrough Southeastern. Its pleasures might not be<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[34,1347,1346],"class_list":["post-3630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-jason-isbell","tag-southeastern-records"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jason Isbell Something More Than Free - The Agit Reader<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jason Isbell Something More Than Free - The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jason Isbell returns with Something More Than Free, a subtler, more human-scaled record than his breakthrough Southeastern. Its pleasures might not be\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheAgitReader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-22T19:29:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-30T16:33:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/jason_isbell-something_more_than_free.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard Sanford\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@agitreader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@agitreader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Richard Sanford\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Richard Sanford\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/fa918e065f4387468b0fc32ae7c10905\"},\"headline\":\"Jason Isbell Something More Than Free\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-22T19:29:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-30T16:33:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/\"},\"wordCount\":656,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/jason_isbell-something_more_than_free.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Album Review\",\"Jason Isbell\",\"Southeastern Records\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Album Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/\",\"name\":\"Jason Isbell Something More Than Free - The Agit Reader\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/jason_isbell-something_more_than_free.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-22T19:29:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-30T16:33:44+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/jason_isbell-something_more_than_free.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/jason_isbell-something_more_than_free.jpg\",\"width\":250,\"height\":250,\"caption\":\"Jason Isbell, Something More Than Free\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Jason Isbell Something More Than Free\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/\",\"name\":\"The Agit Reader\",\"description\":\"a music webzine\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Agit Reader\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/agitcom.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/agitcom.jpg\",\"width\":339,\"height\":149,\"caption\":\"The Agit Reader\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheAgitReader\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/agitreader\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/fa918e065f4387468b0fc32ae7c10905\",\"name\":\"Richard Sanford\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/189ed93e32a6db5bf243f82e9ea29b7b211133f54561a82a1abff8e37bb0ca99?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/189ed93e32a6db5bf243f82e9ea29b7b211133f54561a82a1abff8e37bb0ca99?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Richard Sanford\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/author\/richardsanford\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jason Isbell Something More Than Free - The Agit Reader","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Jason Isbell Something More Than Free - The Agit Reader","og_description":"Jason Isbell returns with Something More Than Free, a subtler, more human-scaled record than his breakthrough Southeastern. Its pleasures might not be","og_url":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/","og_site_name":"The Agit Reader","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheAgitReader","article_published_time":"2015-07-22T19:29:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-07-30T16:33:44+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/jason_isbell-something_more_than_free.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Richard Sanford","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@agitreader","twitter_site":"@agitreader","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Richard Sanford","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/"},"author":{"name":"Richard Sanford","@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/fa918e065f4387468b0fc32ae7c10905"},"headline":"Jason Isbell Something More Than Free","datePublished":"2015-07-22T19:29:33+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-30T16:33:44+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/"},"wordCount":656,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/jason_isbell-something_more_than_free.jpg","keywords":["Album Review","Jason Isbell","Southeastern Records"],"articleSection":["Album Reviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/","url":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/","name":"Jason Isbell Something More Than Free - The Agit Reader","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/jason_isbell-something_more_than_free.jpg","datePublished":"2015-07-22T19:29:33+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-30T16:33:44+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/jason_isbell-something_more_than_free.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/jason_isbell-something_more_than_free.jpg","width":250,"height":250,"caption":"Jason Isbell, Something More Than Free"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/jason-isbell-something-more-than-free\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jason Isbell Something More Than Free"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#website","url":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/","name":"The Agit Reader","description":"a music webzine","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization","name":"The Agit Reader","url":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/agitcom.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/agitcom.jpg","width":339,"height":149,"caption":"The Agit Reader"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheAgitReader","https:\/\/x.com\/agitreader"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/fa918e065f4387468b0fc32ae7c10905","name":"Richard Sanford","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/189ed93e32a6db5bf243f82e9ea29b7b211133f54561a82a1abff8e37bb0ca99?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/189ed93e32a6db5bf243f82e9ea29b7b211133f54561a82a1abff8e37bb0ca99?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Richard Sanford"},"url":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/author\/richardsanford\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Up74-Wy","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3630"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3636,"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3630\/revisions\/3636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}