WATCH: Jason Isbell Performs “Only Children” From His Tennessee Barn

Jason Isbell dropped by The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (temporarily known as the Daily Social Distancing Show) earlier this month and in a delightful interview, Noah inquired about many things, including how Isbell’s life personally has changed and how the impact of COVID-19 is being felt in the music industry.

Speaking eloquently as only he can, Isbell set the stage for his just-released record, Reunions. “The person that I used to be,” he says in the interview, “I looked back on him with a lot of judgment and a lot of disdain. … Finally, in the last couple years, for whatever reason, I felt comfortable looking back. … [Memories] came back to me in a way that I’m more equipped now to write about than I was.” 

Isbell is then joined by Amanda Shires to perform “Only Children” from their barn in Tennessee. Take a look.


Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen

LISTEN: Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, “Be Afraid”

Artist: Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Be Afraid”
Album: Reunions
Release Date: May 15, 2020
Label: Southeastern Records/Thirty Tigers

In Their Words: “There are a lot of ghosts on this album. Sometimes the songs are about the ghosts of people who aren’t around anymore, but they’re also about who I used to be, the ghost of myself. I found myself writing songs that I wanted to write fifteen years ago, but in those days, I hadn’t written enough songs to know how to do it yet. Just now have I been able to pull it off to my own satisfaction. In that sense it’s a reunion with the me I was back then.” — Jason Isbell


Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen