Several weeks ago, I was asked by The Bitter Southerner to interview four-time Grammy winner Jason Isbell for the cover story of Issue 6. To say I was thrilled would be an understatement.
I discovered Isbell in 2005, when he was member of the Drive-By Truckers and I was a homesick young writer working on my first stories out of little cafés in Buenos Aires. After graduating from the University of Georgia earlier that year, I’d sold my car and used the money to move to Argentina with the intention to teach English as a Second Language (ESL). I ended up writing web content for two cents per word, hopped up on jarritos (double espressos, literally “little jars”) and force of will. In a strange twist of fate, I discovered a couple of Drive-By Truckers songs had come preloaded on my Dell laptop, and I immediately fell in love with their music. As I said in the BS piece:
“Here was a band doing what I aimed to do with my writing: Taking the old Southern stereotypes, lighting sticks of dynamite underneath them, and seeing what truth or beauty or horror might be found amid the dust and wreckage: usually an unforgettable constellation of all three.”
Since then, Isbell has branched out on his own, recording a string of No. 1 hits, earning a reputation for candor on social media, and becoming “Americana music’s favorite son.”
The Bitter Southerner didn’t want just another profile or album review, but something different: two writers talking about writing and art. I traveled to Isbell’s home in Nashville with this intention in mind. In reality, our conversation would range far beyond this starting point, turning over stones, upending myths, and looking for better ways of ways of moving through the world.
I’m damn proud of what came of our time together: “Jason Isbell is Walking Tall.” You can read the full 5500-word piece in Issue No. 6 of Bitter Southerner, available here: https://bsgeneralstore.com/products/bs-magazine-issue-no-6
Huge props to legendary rock photographer Christy Bush for the incredible photographs, Heather Mary Jackson for the styling, and the whole BS family for entrusting me with this story — it was an honor.
