On May 23rd, a new exhibition called “Players” featuring the work of Morgan Jones Johnston and Will Johnson opened at the Old Bailey Gallery in Birmingham, Alabama, with a reception featuring acoustic sets by Duquette Johnston and Will Johnson. As soon as this event was announced, I knew it was worth making the trip from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham. I love supporting the Alabama art scene, and Will Johnson is an artist I deeply appreciate and admire. I try to see him any chance I can. This night exceeded expectations. The art and music genuinely impacted me, and I felt inspired to write up a reflection on the evening.

For those unfamiliar with the Old Bailey Gallery, it was founded in 2023 by curator Dan Bailey with a mission to help promote Birmingham as an emerging art city. They’ve hosted artists from London, New York, and beyond. Dan is also a longtime friend of Will Johnson, and it was mentioned at the opening that when the two were discussing the exhibit, Will wanted a local artist represented alongside him, and Morgan Jones Johnston was selected.

Morgan is a painter and storyteller. She’s the creator of Rugged and Fancy and co-owner of lifestyle brand Club Duquette. All of her pieces in the exhibit were colorful abstract portraits, bright and eye-catching. They hung directly across from Will’s baseball player portraits, which feature a much more muted, darker palette. The contrast between the two bodies of work was striking. Will’s paintings are cropped portraits, usually showing only half the figure on the right side of the canvas. The player’s name runs along the top, and the left side features a painted short bio of the subject. I don’t know much about baseball, but I’m completely fascinated by these pieces and love learning the stories behind each player. A standout was Macho Man Randy Savage. I had no idea he was a baseball player who played for the Cardinals, Reds, and White Sox. While Will’s paintings name their subjects and tell their stories, Morgan’s portraits leave the subject anonymous, inviting the viewer to imagine who that person is and what their life holds. I loved how different both artists were from each other, and I spent a good amount of time with each piece before the music started.

The music kicked off with Duquette Johnston, a local Birmingham musician and one of the founding members and bass player of indie rock band Verbena. Duquette has released four solo albums, his latest being It Sings Because It Has a Song, released on Single Lock Records. I wasn’t familiar with his work going in. I had a front row seat and watched the whole set in awe. It was intimate and moving. During his performance, the overhead lights were off, and a couple of small spotlights and a lamp held the room in a moody glow that paired perfectly with the music. It felt more like a living room listening session than an acoustic set at an art gallery. I was completely captivated. I’m looking forward to diving deeper into his catalog.

Then it was time for Will Johnson. If you read this blog, you're probably familiar with Will, but if not: he's a singer, songwriter, painter, author, and multi-instrumentalist born in Kennett, Missouri who now lives in Texas. He’s released several solo records and has been in a number of bands, including Centro-matic, Monsters of Folk, Funland, and South San Gabriel. He was a close friend and collaborator of Jason Molina’s, and in 2025, Molina’s band Magnolia Electric Co. teamed up with Will for a new project called Magnolia and Johnson Electric Co. I discovered Will’s music after he joined Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit and became an instant fan. I had the opportunity to interview him in 2024, and I left that conversation feeling very inspired. The 400 Unit keeps a busy touring schedule, so seeing Will play solo is a rarity. This was only my second time seeing him perform alone. The first was at Rocker Gallery the day before Shoalsfest, which was also paired with an exhibit of his art. That night I kept running into friends and spent most of my time catching up, so I didn’t get to fully take in the paintings. This show gave me the space to read every piece and immerse myself completely.

He opened with one of my favorite Centro-matic songs, “The Mighty Midshipman,” off the 2003 record Love You Just the Same. What struck me immediately was how different the acoustic version sounds from the recording. The original opens with a driving drumbeat, a guitar line coming in right behind it, the kind of song that makes you bob your head without thinking. The acoustic version is slower and more melancholy. Stripped of the full-band sound, Will’s raw vocals carry the full weight of the lyrics, and they land like a gut punch.

He’s constantly caught and he’s constantly traumatized / He’s the mighty midshipman / He’s totally motorized and he’s constantly caught.

The set moved through a nice balance of Centro-matic songs and solo tracks like “All Dragged Out” and “El Capitan.” The dimly lit room and the rain outside all added to the atmosphere. It felt almost spiritual. I found myself closing my eyes, fully present, soaking in every word. In a world of constant distraction, there was something deeply refreshing about spending 45 minutes completely off my phone, lost in a kind of musical meditation. Taking in every strum, every tap of his boot on the floor, every lyric. I felt completely at peace.

The highlight of the set was when he played my favorite song, “Just to Know What You’ve Been Dreaming.” I think it’s one of the most beautifully written love songs ever put to tape. Every time I listen to it, my heart swells, and hearing it live brought tears to my eyes.

And I would tell a thousand tales / just to know what you’ve been thinking / And I would swim the seven seas / just to crawl along your beaches.

Those lyrics are poetry to me. Hearing it in such an intimate setting made it feel even more rare and precious.

After the set, I got to talk with Will for a bit. We discussed the book recently written about him: Patience for the Ride: The Art and Life of Will Johnson by John Krajicek. Each chapter features someone in Will’s life, friends, collaborators, family, sharing their personal stories, memories, and how his work has shaped them. Contributors include Jim James, Jason Isbell, Patterson Hood, Craig Finn, Dan Bailey, and Will’s wife Jessie. Will mentioned it took him a while to get through it, that reading an entire book of people’s love for you is a little overwhelming and emotional. I got emotional just reading it as a fan, so I can’t imagine how it feels to be the subject. What makes the book so special is the approach. It’s not a straightforward musical history. His story is told through the people who love him, each with their own favorite song, their own memory, their own way his music became part of their life. It captures something true about who Will is: not just someone with an extraordinary creative output, but genuinely one of the kindest, most down-to-earth people you’ll ever meet.

I’m always grateful for the chance to stand in front of his paintings and hear him play. This was a very special night, one I’ll treasure for a long time.

The Players exhibit runs May 29 through June 22. I highly recommend visiting.

Gallery hours and address:

Fridays • 12-4pm
Saturdays • 12-4pm
Sundays • 12-4pm
Mondays • 12-4pm

The Old Bailey Gallery
4909 5th Ave South
Birmingham, AL 35222

This show was at the Orpheum in Memphis, Tennessee. It had been almost three years since Isbell played Memphis, at the botanical gardens with the 400 Unit, and I was there for that one too. Since I didn’t have the blog yet, I’ll share a little about it. I broke my foot that week, so I was stuck in a lawn chair when my heart ached to be in the pit. It was still special. It was the first time I saw the band with Anna Butterss and Will Johnson, and I heard “King of Oklahoma” live for the first time. Jason also announced to the crowd that he had received a real degree, not honorary, from the University of Memphis, and the joy on his face that night is one of my favorite show memories. That show was also the first Isbell show I got to take my mom to. We used to go to concerts together all through my teenage years, but once I started college and she started law school, those trips became rare. This 2026 Memphis show was her third time seeing Isbell, but her first time seeing him solo, which made it special before it even started.

The Orpheum is truly the perfect venue for a solo Isbell show. It’s ornate and beautiful, with elegant chandeliers and fixtures throughout. It reminded me aesthetically of the Fox Theater in Atlanta. It’s also in a great location in the heart of downtown Memphis on Beale Street, so when you visit, you are fully immersed in the musical nightlife of the city.

The show kicked off with “Dreamsicle” and it did not take even five minutes before the vibes got very sad, in true Isbell fashion, with “White Beretta.” That song is one of the most emotionally potent in his catalog, and hearing it stripped down acoustically makes it cut even deeper. It does mention Memphis, which led to an eruption of woos from the crowd. Isbell doesn’t leave you in tears for long, because as soon as he finished he launched into the story of when he drove a white Beretta with no AC from Memphis to Alabama in July with the windows down and the heat cranked up, and how a friend spilled beans in that car and he’s pretty sure those beans are still dried up in there. These storytelling sessions are what make the solo shows stand out. When you see the band you get some funny banter, but in these solo shows the stories feel like companions to the songs. I don’t want to get too into detail because you really need to hear Jason tell them, but they make me crack up every time.

Coming into this show, the two songs I most wanted to hear were “Live Oak” and “Dress Blues.” I’ve heard “Live Oak” a couple of times, and although the song is bleak, the way he delivers the vocals always soothes me. It’s become a weird comfort song. It starts a cappella, and being in a solo setting where there’s a moment of complete stillness before you hear “there’s a man who walks beside me who I used to be” will never not send chills down my spine. Beautifully haunting.

“Dress Blues” is a song I had never heard live before. It’s special to me because it was one of the first Isbell songs I really loved. The first album of his I heard was Live from Alabama, and I remember being so moved by that song. I have processing challenges, and it is genuinely difficult for me to figure out the meaning of a song no matter how many times I listen. But the way Isbell writes works for my brain. “Dress Blues” is so descriptive and visual that I can picture a movie while I listen, and it was one of the first times I could truly process a song without Googling it. It hits even harder now given the current political climate, and as much as it’s devastating that a song like that is still relevant, there’s something cathartic about revisiting it. He followed it with “Tour of Duty,” which is from a different album but thematically pairs perfectly, and that back to back was a definite highlight. Another standout was “Chaos and Clothes” and “King of Oklahoma” played back to back, two of my absolute favorites. And vocally, the moment of the night was his cover of Bon Iver’s “Beth/Rest” in the encore. It is probably one of the most impressive and chilling vocal performances Isbell delivers and it is always a treat to hear.

Overall this was a very well-rounded set. Five songs from Foxes in the Snow, two DBT songs, and several that rarely make the rotation. The one downside was the crowd. Despite the no-phones policy, people were recording all night, shouting requests, and generally not reading the room for a quiet acoustic show in a historic theater. Isbell even joked that if you yell a song, he won’t play it. It was still a special night regardless.

Now for the part I really want to talk about.

I started seeing Isbell in 2022, and in four years I have been to 16 shows. For the last year, I have always had an Isbell show on the calendar, and words can’t explain how important that is for me. I am a PhD student, so naturally I experience a lot of stress. Change isn’t easy for me to process, and adapting to a new city while also adjusting to the intensity of doctoral work is difficult, even though I love what I’m studying. I remember standing at the Pinnacle shows last March telling everyone around me that since I was starting my PhD, I probably wouldn’t be able to go to many shows for a while. Thank god I was wrong about that.

What I realized in my first semester is that I need to carve out things in my life that let me decompress. I live apart from my family, most of my friends are out of state, and socializing is unpredictable with my schedule. But picking out shows I know I can attend, and carving out that time to take a weekend off, go somewhere new, see people I love, and listen to my favorite songs has been one of the most genuinely beneficial things for my mental health.

Jason’s music has been the soundtrack to my life for the last five years. His voice has this effect on me where as soon as I hear it, I feel at peace. Sometimes I’ll be deep in the writing trenches, feeling pretty low, and I don’t even want to listen to music, but then I’ll turn Jason on and within a minute it feels like a weighted blanket. The other day I was feeling really sad and I put on a video of him performing and I started laughing at myself because I calmed down the same way a baby calms down when they hear The Happy Song. I don’t fully know what it is about his music that can quiet my chaotic brain so quickly, but I am so glad I have it. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I’m autistic, and Isbell has been my special interest for years. His songwriting works for my brain in a way that most music doesn’t. I can process it, visualize it, live inside it. And when something becomes that embedded in how you regulate, hearing it live isn’t just a concert, it’s something closer to medicine.

Often at the end of a show I get overwhelmed with emotion because I am so grateful that this music exists, that I can go to these shows, and that for one night everything in the outside world goes quiet and it’s just me and the songs.

This show reminded me of that more than most, because my mom was there. I got her into Isbell’s music and it has become something we genuinely bond over. She introduced me to so many artists growing up, so there’s something really special about being able to introduce her to something that means this much to me. Her favorite song is “If We Were Vampires.” When he played it, she held my hand and we sobbed together. She looked at me and said she had been thinking about how she won’t be here for my entire life, and we both completely fell apart.

Moments like that remind me why I keep coming back. Why I can hear the same songs over and over and still feel something new every time. Because they aren’t just songs. They are stories, they are memories, they bring regulation, and they create space to feel things that are hard to feel anywhere else. I am so grateful to live in a world with artists like Jason Isbell, and for music that adds that kind of meaning to life.

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Photo Credit: Wingate Downs

It’s that time again! I just saw Jason Isbell this past weekend, so I am back to keep my tradition of giving my post-show report. This was my 15th time seeing Isbell and my 4th write-up. You would think at this point I would have run out of things to say, and maybe it’s a bit silly to review and debrief someone I have seen so many times. Yet each time I see him, it feels like I have a new perspective and a post-show inspiration that I only experience after I see Isbell, so the tradition lives on.

On January 17th, Jason Isbell took the stage at the Classic Center Theater in Athens, GA. This is a part of his solo run that he is embarking on throughout the year. When you see Isbell with the 400 Unit, you are in for a big ole rock show with face-melting guitars, thumping bass, keys and accordion, two drummers, and a gong. Jason solo shows may not be loud and rockin, but they sure are special. It’s two hours of songs and stories. Another standout of the solo shows compared to the band ones is that he changes up the set a bit more, and there are songs in the solo set rotation that aren’t frequently played by the band.

The show started off strong and sad right off the bat with “Children of Children,” a heart-wrenching track about Isbell’s reflections on growing up with teen parents. That song is even more chilling when it is just the vocals and the guitar. With this style of performance, I feel like I lock in to the lyrics and feel fully immersed in these stories. He kept it thematic and went into “Dreamsicle,” another track about his childhood and his parents. These songs were released five years apart, and hearing them back-to-back added an emotional impact. Another neat element of this intimate performance was how the light’s reflection on Jason caused a beautiful silhouette shadow of him on the chair with the guitar. Throughout the performance, I watched the shadow move, and it felt like a musical meditation. I would have taken a picture, but these shows have a no-phones policy. The eliminated distraction of the phone made me soak up the show more as well.

Before the show, my friends and I made a little list of songs we hoped to hear that night, and one of the top spots was “Songs She Sang in the Shower.” He played it right at the beginning of the set, and we appropriately all lost our minds. I had only heard that song live once, at the 10th anniversary show of Southeastern, where they played the entire album in order. It has one of my favorite guitar lines and sounds so heavenly on an acoustic. Seven songs in, we got a song that many fans, including myself, have been chasing for years, “Streetlights” from the 400 Unit’s self-titled record. It is one of the most beloved songs in his catalog. As soon as it started, my friend Anna and I stared at each other and squealed quietly in excitement. One of the most thrilling concert experiences is hearing the first note of a song you’ve been dreaming to hear. It’s also not a solo show without a little story time from Jason, and we got some great tales.

After “Streetlights,” he told a story about going out in Athens and forgetting where he parked his car, because the night prior he had parked it blocks away. In a panic, he called the police, just for them to find the car in three minutes. He told another funny story about being arrested after another night out in Sheffield, Alabama, when he was recording American Aquarium’s Burn. Flicker. Die., and BJ Barham had to bail him out. While many of his songs are somber and serious, the stories he tells are so ridiculous that they bring a perfect balance from tears to laughter.

A stand-out of the night was when he did two covers, “Storm Windows” by John Prine and “Sunshine” by Todd Snider. It was my first time hearing Isbell play each of those songs, and they were very moving tributes to two musicians and friends of Isbell that he really respects. He even did the whistling parts in “Sunshine,” and it was a real treat. After “Storm Windows,” he played another deep cut I had not heard live, “Cigarettes and Wine.” He said that was Prine’s favorite song of his and that he would have loved to cover it, but he couldn’t pronounce “Gethsemane Street.” Right after that, he played the song at the very top of my wish-to-hear list, “Chaos and Clothes.” Anna and I lost our minds and cuddled each other throughout the entire song while whisper singing the lyrics. As some of you know, I have autism, and I often use Isbell’s music as a way to regulate. When I am at my worst and need to calm down, the first song I go to is “Chaos and Clothes.” The guitar melody mixed with his soft vocals always leaves me feeling centered and at peace, so hearing it live was incredibly healing.

It is such a nice feeling to see an artist as often as I see Jason and leave each time feeling like the show was better than the last. Although I may hear many of the same songs over and over, they don’t get old. With every show, I hear one or two songs I have never heard live before or songs I haven’t heard played in a while. After I leave a Jason show, I feel like my soul went through a factory reset and experience post-show euphoria. The day after the show, I drove over five hours back to Tuscaloosa. Instead of feeling tired and sad to leave my friends, my heart felt full. I reflected on how lucky I am to go to a new city, meet up with my musical community, and see my favorite artist. There is no feeling in the world that compares, and that is why I will keep doing these write-ups as a way to archive all the shows and their memories. Next up: Drive-By Truckers’ HeAthens Homecoming! Then Isbell again in March!

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Hey y’all, hope everyone had a great holiday season. It has been a minute since I did one of these subscriber updates. December was a crazy month. I officially completed my first semester of my PhD program in communications and media effects at UA. I submitted one 18 page group quantitative analysis, one 20 page theory paper, and an in class presentation. I was completely exhausted afterward, and unfortunately academic burnout caused a slight pause on Undefined for a few weeks. After some much needed downtime with my family and pets, I am back and excited to fill y’all in on what’s been going on.

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On Saturday, December 13th in Huntsville, Alabama, I attended two solo acoustic sets from Drive-By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hood at the intimate Tangled String Studios. I am a massive DBT fan; however, I have only seen the band twice before, and those were full-band shows. Every year in December, both Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley go on their own respective solo acoustic runs. It has been a yearly tradition for many of my friends to attend these shows, and I am so grateful that I was finally able to join in on the fun.

This show was set up differently than other dates on Patterson’s run because he played an early set at 6:30 p.m. and a late set at 8:30 p.m. During the show, he mentioned that he does not typically play two-set nights anymore. Unfortunately, Tangled String Studios is set to close this year, and he shared how much he loved this venue and wanted to play there twice before it closed. I came into this show not knowing what to expect. I am used to seeing Patterson surrounded by his bandmates, bringing all the intensity of a rock show. I was excited to see how he would command such a small room with just his songs, and he did not disappoint.

Both sets began with him greeting the crowd before kicking things off with “The Forks of Cypress” from his new album Exploding Trees and Airplane Screams. The song is based on a real place in Florence, Alabama, and he shared a story about visiting the Forks of Cypress while growing up and how creepy it felt to him at the time and the myths that surround that place. Both sets felt like a perfect companion to the new record, which Hood describes as an album that tells the story of the first 30 years of his life, beginning backward at his 30th birthday and ending in his childhood. The sets also featured a handful of songs from Exploding Trees alongside DBT classics. Every song he chose matched the deeply personal tone of the new record, and hearing the stories behind them made the performances even more special. One standout story song was “The Sands of Iwo Jima,” which is about his great uncle George A., who helped raise him. He shared several stories about George A. throughout the night. I had heard “The Sands of Iwo Jima” before, but hearing it paired with those stories, while watching him perform it just feet away in such a small room, was incredibly moving.

Another standout moment came before “Pinocchio,” when Hood talked about becoming a parent and learning things about his children that helped him better understand his own childhood. He spoke about learning more about ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder, and autism, and how that knowledge helped explain how he functioned as a child. He shared that he often became deeply fixated on things while growing up. One of the first things he became obsessed with at age three was The Beatles, and he remembered watching Magical Mystery Tour and being completely obsessed. That story hit home for me, as I had a very similar experience as a child with The Beatles.

He then talked about how his favorite movie was Disney’s Pinocchio. After seeing a trailer for its re-release, he knew he wanted to see it again, so George A. took him to the theater repeatedly. He even acted the movie out for the neighborhood kids, who were not impressed. As a fellow weird kid who also rewatched the same movie countless times and recited it word for word, I felt deeply connected to this story. As someone who was once afraid to open up about their neurodivergence, it meant a lot to see Patterson speak so openly about his own experiences, and I found that to incredibly brave of him.

I really admire how open Patterson is when it comes to storytelling. He trusts his audience and shares vulnerable moments from his life in such an earnest and relatable way. Many of these songs already contain rich narratives in their lyrics, but the stories he tells before performing them make them feel even more intimate.

Another highlight of the night was seeing how much fun he was clearly having. It did not feel like he was repeating stories he had told in another town the night before. Instead, the performance felt more like a house show, and the atmosphere of Tangled String Studios only amplified that feeling. The venue was cozy and even had a couch in the middle of the room, which added to the living room vibe. The room was so quiet, and everyone seemed completely drawn into his playing.

He smiled often and dedicated songs to friends in the crowd, including dedicating “Heathens” to my friends Missy and Ricky during both sets, which was incredibly sweet. When he played rockers like “Lookout Mountain” and “Ronnie and Neil,” the way he attacked his acoustic guitar reminded me of how he jams on electric, and it sounded incredible. The setlists were thoughtfully balanced, and he played many of my favorites, including “My Sweet Annette,” “Van Pelt Parties,” “Sinkhole,” “Tornadoes,” and “Bulldozers and Dirt.”

To top it all off, he ended the night in a way I was not expecting by breaking out a cover of “867-5309/Jenny” which quickly turned into a crowd sing-along. Afterward, we gathered near the stage as he smiled and waved. He handed me his setlist, then went around greeting everyone, signing posters, and taking pictures.

Overall, this was such a special night. This show was very different from a full-band Drive-By Truckers performance. We traded headbanging and loud riffs for a cozy, story-driven atmosphere that added new emotional weight and meaning to songs I have heard countless times. I am so grateful for Patterson, his music, and the incredible fan community that surrounds DBT. It also made me even more excited to experience my first HeAthens Homecoming in February!

For me, the most wonderful time of the year is mid October when Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit set up camp at the Ryman for their annual two weekend residencies. This year was my third time attending one of these shows and it also marked the tenth anniversary of Jason’s residencies. If you are new here, pretty much every time I go see Isbell I hop on here to recap it. My first Ryman show was in 2023 and it was one of the most special concerts ever because they surprised us by playing Southeastern front to back. Last year I went on opening night and he covered Losing My Religion by R.E.M.

What makes the Ryman run so different from an average JI400U show is that superfans from all over fly in and you often hear songs that are not usually in the band’s rotation. They also tend to do fun covers you will only ever get at the Ryman. Jason and most of the band live in Nashville, so it feels like a homecoming for them, and the Ryman is such a big part of their story. It is also one of my favorite places to see a show. The history in that room is unreal and it truly feels like going to church, especially when Jason is playing.

This year felt special because I got to bring my friend Courtney, who some of you know as the admin for the Drive By Truckers group and one of the admins for the Jason Isbell Facebook group. She is from Georgia and usually sees the band there or in Alabama, so this was her first Ryman show. Getting to take her meant a lot to me and we also rode to Robert’s before the show and that was fun. This was also my first time going on the second weekend, and if you know the Ryman runs, the later the weekend the crazier the setlist and the bigger the chance you will hear some deepcuts.

Before we get into the 400 Unit, I want to talk about the openers. This year was different from past residencies because instead of touring acts they teamed up with public schools and music programs across the Southeast to showcase students and educators who are shaping the next generation of live music. Our openers were the Nashville School of the Arts and they were so fun to watch. Several students took turns singing songs they wrote and they were complete naturals. The crowd was pretty packed for them and it made me really happy to see these kids get a core memory playing to a full Ryman audience. I know they will cherish it forever.

To set the scene for the main set, we were in the middle balcony. This was my first time sitting up there since I had always sat in the downstairs pews. The lower level is a gamble because even though you are closer, a pole can completely block your view. I actually preferred the balcony and might go back there next year unless we somehow score the first few rows.

One thing that really stood out was that no one that we could see in the balcony was standing or dancing. If you know me, you know once Jason comes out I am usually on my feet jamming the entire time, but I did not want to block anyone’s view so I stayed seated the whole night. Courtney is used to being on the front row, so it was new for both of us. It was so hard to stay still because the opening trio of songs was probably the best three song opener at any Isbell show I have been to. He started with my number one favorite song ever, King of Oklahoma, then went right into 24 Frames and Decoration Day. I kept turning to Courtney with my jaw dropped. I knew right then we were in for something special.

After that we got two songs from Reunions. Only Children, which I had been hoping for because it had been awhile, and Overseas, which has become a setlist staple and is always so fun to watch as Jason and Sadler tear into that guitar solo. Another standout was Tupelo from The Nashville Sound. My family lives about forty minutes from Tupelo so that one always makes me smile and I adore his vocals on it. We also got Relatively Easy, which I had only heard once during the Southeastern show, and the Drive By Truckers classic, Danko/Manuel, which was my first time hearing it with the full band. It was incredible.

After they finished Danko, Jason joked that the song was about Will Johnson and actually all the songs were about Will, which made me laugh. It is extra funny because he does have a song about Will and his band Centro matic called To A Band That I Loved, but they have never played it live.

The deep cut gem of the night was The Magician from Jason’s first solo record Sirens of the Ditch released in 2007. It was their first time playing it since 2018 and Jason’s matured vocals plus Will Johnson and Anna Butterss performing it for the first time gave it a fresh feel. Jason joked that it was his first time playing that song without a headache because it was heavy in the set rotation before he got sober.

The best moment of the night came during the encore when Jason announced it was special treat time. For the first time ever, drummer Chad Gamble took the mic and sang lead vocals as they covered Remedy by The Band. If you are used to only seeing Chad behind the kit, it might shock you to hear how good of a singer he is. He used to sing in The Gamble Brothers Band with his brother Al and wow he has pipes. The crowd erupted when he finished. It was also funny and sweet to see Jason not sing and just play guitar for once. Chad has real star power and I would love to see him sing again.

In case you are wondering why they covered Remedy, during these Ryman shows it has become a tradition that the band picks an artist and each night they cover a different song by them. Last year it was R.E.M. and this year it was The Band, which made perfect sense since Danko/Manuel is about them. They closed the night with one of their iconic ending songs, Miles.

Overall it was probably my favorite 400 Unit set so far, and I know I say that almost every time but they really do keep getting better. I have seen them over ten times and the fact that they still manage to play at least one song I have never heard live keeps it exciting. Being surrounded by superfans in the Ryman always feels like a homecoming. I met a few people who follow me and it was wonderful talking with them. I never go to a Ryman show now without seeing familiar faces and that is so special.

I also realized I have only done one Ryman show each year, so Courtney and I decided that next year we have to try for three in a row. I cannot wait. I have a Isbell solo show coming up in January, so I will see you all then!