Jason Isbell
Sirens Of The Ditch
New West Records [2007]
When guitarist Jason Isbell parted ways with Drive-By Truckers last year, I am not sure anyone knew when or if we would hear from him again. Well the wait is over and his solo debut Sirens Of The Ditch is a nice batch of alt-country that gets away from the harder rockin’ electric sound of DBT and focuses in more on Isbell’s voice and guitar. All of the songs do an excellent job of highlighting Isbell’s sort of gruff harmonic voice because he tones down the pace on Sirens Of The Ditch and keeps a mostly mid-tempo beat strumming along throughout a good portion of the album. There are several rockers, such as “Shotgun Wedding” but what will surprise you are songs like “Hurricanes And Hand Grenades” that has a soulish blues vibe and the back porch pickin’ on “The Magician”. Intentionally or not these more lone tone and acoustic tracks really do a nice job of separating himself from the DBT catalog. Not that Jason Isbell wants to forget his past but the strength of Sirens Of The Ditch shows he has a promising future.
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– Reviewed by Christopher Anthony
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