Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit Here We Rest 180g LP

Reissue of album originally released in 2011. Remixed and remastered in 2019.

Former Drive-By Truckers member Jason Isbell and his band the 400 Unit released their second album as a group, Here We Rest, in 2011. The song "Alabama Pines" from the album won Song Of The Year at the 2012 Americana Music Awards. After Here We Rest, Isbell went on to release two solo albums - Southeastern and Something More Than Free - before reuniting with the 400 Unit on 2017's The Nashville Sound, which won the Grammy award for Best Americana Album and the Grammy for Best American Roots Song for "If We Were Vampires".

Like the two albums before it, Here We Rest shines a light on Jason Isbell's softer side, illuminating the sad-faced country tunes and bluesy ballads that rarely popped up during his time with Drive-By Truckers. Relying on the acoustic guitar as much as its electric cousin -- and allowing his four-piece band, the 400 Unit, to flesh things out with organ, fiddle, backup harmonies, and shuffling rhythms -- he keeps things loose and rugged, with songs like 'Codeine' and 'Daisy Mae' standing out as particular highlights. Here We Rest may not be beer-drinking music, at least not in the same way the Drive-By Truckers albums are beer-drinking music, but it's as sharply literate as some of Patterson Hood's best work -- and listeners who focus on Isbell's lyrics may find themselves weeping into their whiskeys as early as the second track.