This verse is a perfect example of how great and efficient he is with his lyrics. He manages to tell the listener so much about this person and his situation in just a few lines. Incredible songwriter.
She said it's none of my business but it breaks my heart. Dropped a dozen cheap roses in my shopping cart. That's another one. Instantly you're transported to a shitty small town grocery store talking to Charlene who you don't want to talk to who already knows everything about your life because of town gossip.
It’s not as much sad as it is wistful I guess but the more I listen to it the more I’m convinced The Life You Chose is a perfect song
I think the common denominator of this thread is that every artist we discuss is a heavyweight songwriter and that’s what we all love and appreciate. Isbell, Patterson/Cooley, Goldsmith, Moreland, Simpson, no one wastes a single word.
And just because we’re talking about songs that give you chills, 18 Wheels of Love at Austin City Limits needs to be mentioned. It’s an okay song on the album but man does it come to life when Patterson starts talking about Chester in hospice.
How on earth did you listen to Drive By Truckers and all of his albums and JUST NOW learn he’s a progressive dude?!?
I see the words written in tweets and songs: The lyrics are excellent. Deep, personal, well written stories + great guitar work. So much respect, well earned. The tweets are awful. Woke BS, the opposite of endearing. So much Lebron.
You think I just now noticed it? Thankfully Twitter didn’t exist way back when I became a trucker fanatic.
Do a Cooley one. Does he incessantly make similar woke tweets? No, he keeps that shit to himself for the most part, and I am so thankful for that.
I just don’t understand how someone listened to that and didn’t think they were progressive. That’s where I’m hung up. or is it that the songs are subtle and Twitter is blatant that he doesn’t agree with you?
I truly do want to see your side here. Can you define “woke tweets”? What’s the difference in what he tweets vs what he says in the song?
Very thankful that Cooley keeps his politics to himself and definitely doesn't write songs about Sarah Palin pandering to the racist sensibilities of the Republican Party and creating the roadmap for Trump to complete the radicalization, while also calling DJT fat via a chorus.
No it says you all like to try to divorce the content from the creator plugging your ears when you hear lyrics you don’t like and then when the actual person who wrote those things talks about why he wrote those things you get upset as if he’s an opinionless clown to entertain you. You don’t get one without the other.
Patterson Hood: “Another joker in the White House, said a change was comin' round But I'm still workin' at The Wal Mart and Mary Alice, in the ground And all them politicians, they all lyin' sacks of shit They say better days upon us but I'm sucking left hind tit And the preacher on the TV says it ain't too late for me But I bet he drives a Cadillac and I'm broke with some hungry mouths to feed” Me: “guitar goes brrrrrr”
This whole article is great but this in particular really stood out in response to a question about him sort of spearheading this initiative: “But I’m fine with whatever responsibility is put on me. I’m a white man. You know, there’s no reason to have all this privilege and power if I don’t use it for something good every once in a while.” https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/jason-isbell-covid-vaccine-required-1210914/
He's being a true leader and putting his money where his mouth is. Not many artists have that kind of conviction. It's just so comforting that a guy that a lot of us somewhat idolize is the real deal. I also love how this is the apparent line in the sand for so many chuds to write him off as some kind of "woke liberal." He's trying to protect his crew and his fans from getting a deadly fucking disease. Only an absolute moron would consider this some kind of woke political stand. He's been writing about progressive ideas for as long as he's been writing music. Some people are apparently disappointed that he actually practices what he preaches (or they were never listening in the first place).
Wish I could remember where Cooley did an interview (maybe Koppelman’s pod) where he said he’s trying and trying to have sympathy for a lot of his fans who don’t understand who he and the truckers are but it’s getting harder and harder.
Seems like Isbell's past that point. Which I guess if you own your own label you can say fuck you if you have fuck you money.
Wallen had a very racist tirade. My favorite was the people mad at Isbell for covering a racist's song.
Drunken racist tirade caught on camera. Millions of people bought his album, making it the #1 country album, to fight the “wokeness”