JAsON IsBELL & ThE 400 UNIT

Live At The Ryman 7/10

six-night stand documented

Recorded over six Nashville nights and featuring 13 tracks pulled from Isbell’s three most recent studio albums, Live At The Ryman is an audio vérité document of a songwriter in his prime backed by a powerhouse band. The visceral recordings put the listener right there, amid whiskey-soaked audience whoops, yelled count-ins and searing versions of “Hope The High Road”, “White Man’s World” and “Cumberland Gap”. Amanda Shires’ swirling violin adds a touch of The Waterboys’ mid-’80s grandeur to these hardscrabble tales, while spare readings of “Elephant” and “Cover Me Up” are almost overwhelmingly intense. An intimate, unfiltered snapshot of rough-hewn excellence.