My favorite thing about going to concerts has always been looking around and thinking that there’s a lot of people in here that are very much like me, a lot of people in here I could have a full conversation with. – Jason Isbell
At the end of the day, I’m just trying to write a song that I like, that I’m not afraid to turn loose on the world. I do read a lot. I know a lot of people who read more, but I do try to keep a book in my hand most of the time, and I think that informs any kind of output that I’m going to have. – Jason Isbell
I’ll take a certain concern of my own or a situation and try to frame it around a fictional story, but sometimes just straight-up autobiographical songs work well, and sometimes a story is better. I like stories. I like to hear them. I don’t think there are enough of them in songs anymore. – Jason Isbell
If you’re somebody who writes songs or writes fiction, a writer that people pay for your opinion in any way, you shouldn’t be the least bit uncomfortable giving it to them. People want songwriters to tell them how they think and how they feel. That’s what a song is. That’s what I want to hear in a song. – Jason Isbell
I know people who have written big hit country songs that are really kind of terrible songs, but for the rest of their life, they’re the guy who wrote that. You’ve got to be careful; if you don’t want that to happen, don’t write those songs. – Jason Isbell
For a lot of folks who get sober, the process of getting and staying sober becomes their higher power, and it becomes a religion that sort of consumes a whole lot of them. I just don’t think that that’s necessary. I think that that can be a side note rather than the story of your life. – Jason Isbell
I think a lot of people are scared, and I know I was scared to get sober, at least using this as an excuse; ‘I don’t want to be one of those sober people.’ And I don’t think you have to be. I think you can be one of those people who happens to be sober. – Jason Isbell
I’ve never been someone who’s very prone to boredom. I don’t know, boredom seems like something you should grow out of at about 15 or 16. There’s so much that needs to be done. – Jason Isbell
There are so few people that wake up every day and go do something that they don’t dread… I’m very lucky. – Jason Isbell
I think great songs appeal to people at any age. Kids love the Beatles, too. Kids love Tom T. Hall. Of course, Tom T. wrote some things that were specifically for kids. But I think kids recognize quality more than they get credit for sometimes. – Jason Isbell
The south is very focused on family… the musical heritage of Muscle Shoals especially and the bands from the region. – Jason Isbell
I think sometimes I write to impress my influences. Whether they’re actually acquaintances of mine, people that I think will hear the record or not, I still write – not to imitate my influences – but to write something that would live up to their standards. – Jason Isbell
When I was still drinking, I thought I was kind of in control of everything in my life and other people’s lives and realized at some point that that just wasn’t the case at all. – Jason Isbell
I know it’s financially lucrative to go out on my own, but I don’t like it. It’s really hard work, just the performance aspect. I like people who look like they’ve been together for too long and sound like they’ve been together too long. I like rock n’ roll bands. – Jason Isbell
I’m not trying to steer people in a direction. I’m just trying to move them. Wherever it takes them, it doesn’t matter to me. I just want them to be moved in one way or another, and that’s a hard thing to do, I think. – Jason Isbell
I’ve always wanted to pull off ‘No One is to Blame’ by Howard Jones. I’ve done that a couple times in solo shows, but I can’t figure out how to do that with a full band and make it work. – Jason Isbell
It’s not easy to sit down and open yourself up and say, ‘This is how much I love you,’ you know? It’s scary to do that. – Jason Isbell
People love to be listened to and represented, and they love it when they feel like you have some of the same problems that they do. Everybody deals with things like romantic difficulties in relationships and death and cancer and abuse. – Jason Isbell
Democracy can tie your hands in a rock ‘n’ roll band, you know? It can be a great thing, but if you’ve got a certain amount of vision and you write a lot of songs, it’s sometimes better to have your own band and make your own decisions. – Jason Isbell
I think I’m writing for an intelligent stranger – you know, in my mind I can’t remember who coined that phrase first. I don’t want to write anything that makes me cringe, first of all. I cringe a lot – mostly when I hear popular music. – Jason Isbell
As far as being satisfied, I just don’t think you should work towards being satisfied. If everybody were satisfied, we’d never get anything done. – Jason Isbell
When I stopped drinking… there were so many things I had to face that I didn’t even realize were part of my makeup before. When you do that and have any changes that severe, you lose a lot of things, both good and bad. – Jason Isbell
I don’t think I’d be happy if I were satisfied. I enjoy challenge, and I wouldn’t say that I’m an ambitious person career-wise or financially, really. I would like to travel more comfortably, but that’s really about all I need. – Jason Isbell
I went to school for creative writing in college, and I wound up about six hours short of my degree. – Jason Isbell
