Family, sobriety changed Jason Isbell’s life and career

Years before that auspicious debut, the youngster from Green Hill, Alabama, was determined to become a successful singer-songwriter. Now, with two Grammy Awards and a slew of laurels from the Americana Music Honors & Awards, there’s no question that he more than achieved that goal.

Isbell will be performing with the 400 Unit band Tuesday evening at the Sprint Pavilion in Charlottesville. Also on the bill is Turnpike Troubadours, an Oklahoma country-rock group.

Isbell recently was reached by telephone and talked about his career. A lot changed for him in 2013 when he married violinist Amanda Shires, who currently is touring with John Prine.

“We got a little girl, [Mercy Rose], who is a year and a half old. So, she takes up a whole lot of my time,” Isbell said. “For the last few months, we’ve been playing seven or eight shows a month, just enough to keep the lights on.

“We got a new album, ‘The Nashville Sound,’ coming out in June, so we’ll be getting really busy during the next few months or so. We’ll be playing some of the material from it when we’re in Charlottesville. But most of the songs we’ll be doing will come from my last three solo albums.

“And we’ll do some of the stuff I did when I was with the [Drive-By] Truckers. I’m at a point right now where I probably enjoy touring and performing more than I ever have. I’m in better shape than I’ve ever been in, and I think I have more good material than I have ever had before.”

Isbell will be playing five sold-out shows at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, in October. He said it’s always especially meaningful to play the venue that is known as the “Mother Church of Country Music.”

“We did four shows in a row there last year, and I don’t think I could do five in a row,” Isbell said with a tone of humor in his voice. “This time, we’re doing a couple shows, taking a day off and then doing a few more.

“It’s a beautiful place to play, and the people who are in charge of it take really good care of it. They actually expanded it last year in order to make it more comfortable for the audience.

“I like the fact that everything sounds great, everything works and it’s a historically significant venue. I’ve played the pavilion before, too, and I like it a lot.

“It’s a good size. Sometimes, those sheds can be too big, and you lose some of the low end, sonically. But the pavilion actually sounds really good.”

Isbell writes story songs, many of which sound as if he has scrapped the lyrics from the inside of his soul. “Alabama Pines,” “Cover Me Up” and “24 Frames,” compositions Isbell wrote, all won Song of the Year from the Americana Music Honors & Awards.

Before Isbell got sober in 2012, he was heading down the same stretch of woe and lonesome that Leon Payne wrote about in “Lost Highway.” Hank Williams made the song a hit, but unlike Isbell, he wasn’t able to find a detour to redemption.

“I think what you have to do, if you’re going to be an artist and live a long and happy life, is figure out how to empathize with other people, and with who you used to be,” Isbell said. “And you have to remember the details of the hard times, so you don’t keep having them over and over.

“Getting sober was what changed everything for me. I’m definitely surprised at how much that made a difference in my life.

“It gave me so much more energy and time to work and focus. In the five years since that has happened, my career has taken off, I’ve settled down and got a family going. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Williams wrote many of his most memorable songs when he was struggling with feelings of despair and hopelessness. Isbell said his own songwriting hasn’t suffered since he turned his back on Jack Daniel.

“Having a deadline is what inspires me to write,” Isbell said. “Knowing that I’m going into the studio will definitely light the fire for me.

“I think if you start out with the intention of documenting your own life and your own changes, usually the way you’re living will direct the way you’re writing. If I don’t have anything to write about, then I feel I’m probably not doing a very good job of being a human being.

“I think real inspiration comes from just getting outside your own head, or at least trying to compare your own experiences to the experiences of other people. I like what Chuck Close, the painter from New York, says. He said, ‘Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.’”