I've heard this song only a few times, recently it's grown on me. Today was the first time I listened closely. Previously I had missed the Rex's/Ft. Worth blues part. After hearing that, I looked up the lyrics and also stumbled onto this article. I love it! I'm a massive outlaw country/folk fan and somewhat of a Townes evangelist. Love DBT, JTE, all of it. I wrote off Isbell for a while as being too pop, but as of late he is one of my favorite artists and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Just started a substack myself and will be covering similar topics.
Nice! Thanks for reading. This song isn't my favorite of Isbell's - I prefer the stuff that leans more country/folk - but it grew on me the closer I looked at it for the reasons mentioned in this piece. It's cool how much history and referential language Isbell weaves into it.
Jason Isbell is a skilled songwriter - he creates these characters that could be your neighbor or your brother-in-law. I knew the connection to Townes but had forgotten Justin was Steve EARLE’s son.
Drugs are a damn harsh reality for so many. This song sums up the lives of so many - knowing the nuanced meanings behind make it all the more poignant.
This is a great analysis, and I'm happy to sub to this if it's a lot of song deep dives.!
On the topic of Isbell - I've been a fan and follower from way back, buying all of DBT's stuff starting with Southern Rock Opera (it helps I'm an Athenian!)
Though (to me) Weathervanes is his best since Something More Than Free, I've never found him as compelling as a solo artist as I did in his work with DBT. To be fair, that's a special, rare alchemy though - DBT has also never reached the heights as they did with Isbell.
One way Weathervanes appeals to me is it's cuttting down on the pedantic lyrics that began with THe Nashville Sound. DBT was going through the same stuff starting with American Band. Whereas both artists used to use elaborate and brilliant characterization and storytelling to make their points to reward close listeners, they both eventually slid into embarrassments like White Man's World and What It Means. And again, this is not to disagree with the message, but the delivery.
The good news is that, like Weathervanes, DBT's latest, Club 13, is a great return to form. I hope both arrtists somewhat got over that phase of their careers and will play to thier strengths from here on out.
Hey, this will mostly be songs and albums, and always happy to take requests as well. Thank you for reading.
I like Isbell's solo stuff more than DBT, which speaks to my aesthetic biases. I love folk-rock and definitely lean more folk than rock, even though some of Isbell's best work (Outfit, Danko/Manuel, When We Were Close, Death Wish) definitely comes from his rock songs.
I actually agree with you generally about artists getting too didactic and directly political in their music. I happen to think he pulls it off in White Man's World, (I love "Mama wants to change that Nashville Sound...but they're never gonna let her) but I don't think much of What It Means, or Be Afraid, or What Have I Done To Help. I feel similarly ambiguous about Save The World.
To me, it's the characterization and the storytelling that carries the best of Isbell, so we are on the same page there. Cast Iron Skillet for example has political themes (the racist dad, etc) but discusses them through the prism of what I could call microfiction - verse-length stories.
Isbell is a brilliant songwriter, for sure. I believe he addresses the "country" aspect of his music in his song "Live Oak" - "the jealous innuendos of the lonely-hearted men, let me know what kind of country I was sleeping in". At least that's how I've always taken that lyric.
This song, "When We Were Close" really hit me hard when it came out, and it's still a powerful one to me. I was in a band in the early 2000's that opened for DBT on a few occasions, Jason and I both too drunk to remember. Since then I've lost friends to overdoses, heart attacks, alcohol - all the dumb shit that comes with a young working musician's excesses. He really nails the connection/disconnect and the grief at the (stupid & avoidable) loss of an old friend and fellow road warrior.
Thank you for reading, Jesse, I appreciate it. Isbell is a remarkably insightful songwriter, and this one really stings, gets under your skin. It's got a little nastiness to it, but that only makes it feel more honest.
"The chorus ends with a dose of survivor’s guilt, but the words that intrigue me here are “grown to die.” Maybe it’s just a poetic turn of phrase. But it makes me think about that beautiful, awful name: Justin Townes Earle."
"grown to die" is lifted directly from the TVZ song you referred to, Rex's Blues
outstanding piece. I was only tangentially aware of the backstory and you filled in all the gaps. Isbell is definitely my favorite songwriter these days. He’s Kristofferson-esque but his songs are written so much more personal.
fwiw, I always thought the vibe on this felt like “Never Gonna Change” from DBT’s Dirty South.
Thank you thank you thank you! This deep dive & explanation of the song & the relationship between Jason & Justin is just what I needed. Looking forward to more of your writing!
Thank you thank you thank you! This deep dive & explanation of the song & the relationship between Jason & Justin is just what I needed. Looking forward to more of your writing!
Really well written piece. Jason is touring acoustic this time, which really spotlights his lyrics.
Guy Clark wasnt mentioned here but for anyone who wants to see how it might have gone if JTE and Townes hadnt totally squandered their talent, check out his body of work. Guy is who they all idolized.
Thank you for reading. I am of course a Guy Clark fan as well. His cover of "Ft. Worth Blues" is especially moving.
But Townes Van Zandt did not "squander" his talent. He wrote a number of phenomenal albums, and overcame immense personal struggles to make great art. That art is in large part owed to his struggles and they way he dealt with them.
My comments were more for those reading your piece since something that detailed and so well written couldnt come from someone who didnt know the whole story. Just always looking to entice folks who dont know his work to check it out. I am constantly amazed how many people who “love country music” but have no idea who Guy is.
Back to whether Townes Van Zandt squandered his talent. We disagree there. What if Willie had OD’d after several fine albums, but we didnt get anything after that? Or if John Prine drank himself into an early grave after a few? The list of brilliant talents who just kept producing great work well past 50 is long, and I’d argue both Prine and Willie did some of their very best work after that age. To me, Townes coasted. He was the greatest living songwriter when he was at his best, but, imo, he would have gotten alot better if he hadnt pissed it all away. We never heard Townes best work.
We certainly disagree - we didn't get as much work as we should have, but I just can't listen to "A Song For," let alone "Pancho and Lefty," and think that Townes should have been better, when no one else ever has been. It is more akin to Mickey Mantle for me. When healthy, when able, as good as it ever got. There is a rawness and a depth of feeling in the best of TVZ that is truly unmatched.
I do of course wish there was much more TVZ than there is. Prine and Cohen are some of my absolute heroes, and their later careers produced some real gems.
That being said, I appreciate you reading, & appreciate the thoughtful comments. Feel free to drop me a line if there's a specific song or album you'd like covered.
superb breakdown by you, and lyrically this is one of Jason's finest songs. it's unfortunate that JTE's widow is pained by this but artists are gonna create art.
Thanks for reading. I feel the same, more or less - it sucks, and if I was JTE's ex wife I'd probably be furious. But at the same time I'm glad the song exists.
This is an impressive piece of writing! Sharply-etched, persuasive, and informative.
I've heard this song only a few times, recently it's grown on me. Today was the first time I listened closely. Previously I had missed the Rex's/Ft. Worth blues part. After hearing that, I looked up the lyrics and also stumbled onto this article. I love it! I'm a massive outlaw country/folk fan and somewhat of a Townes evangelist. Love DBT, JTE, all of it. I wrote off Isbell for a while as being too pop, but as of late he is one of my favorite artists and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Just started a substack myself and will be covering similar topics.
Nice! Thanks for reading. This song isn't my favorite of Isbell's - I prefer the stuff that leans more country/folk - but it grew on me the closer I looked at it for the reasons mentioned in this piece. It's cool how much history and referential language Isbell weaves into it.
Jason Isbell is a skilled songwriter - he creates these characters that could be your neighbor or your brother-in-law. I knew the connection to Townes but had forgotten Justin was Steve EARLE’s son.
Drugs are a damn harsh reality for so many. This song sums up the lives of so many - knowing the nuanced meanings behind make it all the more poignant.
This is a great analysis, and I'm happy to sub to this if it's a lot of song deep dives.!
On the topic of Isbell - I've been a fan and follower from way back, buying all of DBT's stuff starting with Southern Rock Opera (it helps I'm an Athenian!)
Though (to me) Weathervanes is his best since Something More Than Free, I've never found him as compelling as a solo artist as I did in his work with DBT. To be fair, that's a special, rare alchemy though - DBT has also never reached the heights as they did with Isbell.
One way Weathervanes appeals to me is it's cuttting down on the pedantic lyrics that began with THe Nashville Sound. DBT was going through the same stuff starting with American Band. Whereas both artists used to use elaborate and brilliant characterization and storytelling to make their points to reward close listeners, they both eventually slid into embarrassments like White Man's World and What It Means. And again, this is not to disagree with the message, but the delivery.
The good news is that, like Weathervanes, DBT's latest, Club 13, is a great return to form. I hope both arrtists somewhat got over that phase of their careers and will play to thier strengths from here on out.
Hey, this will mostly be songs and albums, and always happy to take requests as well. Thank you for reading.
I like Isbell's solo stuff more than DBT, which speaks to my aesthetic biases. I love folk-rock and definitely lean more folk than rock, even though some of Isbell's best work (Outfit, Danko/Manuel, When We Were Close, Death Wish) definitely comes from his rock songs.
I actually agree with you generally about artists getting too didactic and directly political in their music. I happen to think he pulls it off in White Man's World, (I love "Mama wants to change that Nashville Sound...but they're never gonna let her) but I don't think much of What It Means, or Be Afraid, or What Have I Done To Help. I feel similarly ambiguous about Save The World.
To me, it's the characterization and the storytelling that carries the best of Isbell, so we are on the same page there. Cast Iron Skillet for example has political themes (the racist dad, etc) but discusses them through the prism of what I could call microfiction - verse-length stories.
Isbell is a brilliant songwriter, for sure. I believe he addresses the "country" aspect of his music in his song "Live Oak" - "the jealous innuendos of the lonely-hearted men, let me know what kind of country I was sleeping in". At least that's how I've always taken that lyric.
This song, "When We Were Close" really hit me hard when it came out, and it's still a powerful one to me. I was in a band in the early 2000's that opened for DBT on a few occasions, Jason and I both too drunk to remember. Since then I've lost friends to overdoses, heart attacks, alcohol - all the dumb shit that comes with a young working musician's excesses. He really nails the connection/disconnect and the grief at the (stupid & avoidable) loss of an old friend and fellow road warrior.
Thank you for this wonderful piece!
Thank you for reading, Jesse, I appreciate it. Isbell is a remarkably insightful songwriter, and this one really stings, gets under your skin. It's got a little nastiness to it, but that only makes it feel more honest.
Great, great writing.
Ahhhhh, to read while listening is really powerful. Have you listened to Tyler Mahan Coe’s pod? Obsessed w his delivery.
"The chorus ends with a dose of survivor’s guilt, but the words that intrigue me here are “grown to die.” Maybe it’s just a poetic turn of phrase. But it makes me think about that beautiful, awful name: Justin Townes Earle."
"grown to die" is lifted directly from the TVZ song you referred to, Rex's Blues
outstanding piece. I was only tangentially aware of the backstory and you filled in all the gaps. Isbell is definitely my favorite songwriter these days. He’s Kristofferson-esque but his songs are written so much more personal.
fwiw, I always thought the vibe on this felt like “Never Gonna Change” from DBT’s Dirty South.
Thank you thank you thank you! This deep dive & explanation of the song & the relationship between Jason & Justin is just what I needed. Looking forward to more of your writing!
Thank you thank you thank you! This deep dive & explanation of the song & the relationship between Jason & Justin is just what I needed. Looking forward to more of your writing!
Really well written piece. Jason is touring acoustic this time, which really spotlights his lyrics.
Guy Clark wasnt mentioned here but for anyone who wants to see how it might have gone if JTE and Townes hadnt totally squandered their talent, check out his body of work. Guy is who they all idolized.
Thank you for reading. I am of course a Guy Clark fan as well. His cover of "Ft. Worth Blues" is especially moving.
But Townes Van Zandt did not "squander" his talent. He wrote a number of phenomenal albums, and overcame immense personal struggles to make great art. That art is in large part owed to his struggles and they way he dealt with them.
My comments were more for those reading your piece since something that detailed and so well written couldnt come from someone who didnt know the whole story. Just always looking to entice folks who dont know his work to check it out. I am constantly amazed how many people who “love country music” but have no idea who Guy is.
Back to whether Townes Van Zandt squandered his talent. We disagree there. What if Willie had OD’d after several fine albums, but we didnt get anything after that? Or if John Prine drank himself into an early grave after a few? The list of brilliant talents who just kept producing great work well past 50 is long, and I’d argue both Prine and Willie did some of their very best work after that age. To me, Townes coasted. He was the greatest living songwriter when he was at his best, but, imo, he would have gotten alot better if he hadnt pissed it all away. We never heard Townes best work.
We certainly disagree - we didn't get as much work as we should have, but I just can't listen to "A Song For," let alone "Pancho and Lefty," and think that Townes should have been better, when no one else ever has been. It is more akin to Mickey Mantle for me. When healthy, when able, as good as it ever got. There is a rawness and a depth of feeling in the best of TVZ that is truly unmatched.
I do of course wish there was much more TVZ than there is. Prine and Cohen are some of my absolute heroes, and their later careers produced some real gems.
That being said, I appreciate you reading, & appreciate the thoughtful comments. Feel free to drop me a line if there's a specific song or album you'd like covered.
Will do. YouTube suggested I watch this after I posted my comments. Big Brother is watching! LOL!
https://youtu.be/OK8AkOmUaQw?si=DcRg9_ADHhOm_we0
I'm sure you've seen this: Jenn Marie Earle's feelings about it:
https://www.facebook.com/justintownesearle/posts/pfbid0gdLc1Rcfyx8dhQ6eTZojTkTxQTNv2FW2TwUdzuQ2pzrvCeUYfxG3R7CtzaLujYxEl?
I have - I can't say I blame her. The words in the song are brutal.
superb breakdown by you, and lyrically this is one of Jason's finest songs. it's unfortunate that JTE's widow is pained by this but artists are gonna create art.
Thanks for reading. I feel the same, more or less - it sucks, and if I was JTE's ex wife I'd probably be furious. But at the same time I'm glad the song exists.