Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit 180g 2LP

Reissue of album originally released in 2009. Remixed and remastered in 2019.

Americana roots rocker Jason Isbell and his band the 400 Unit released their first album as a group in 2009. Formerly a member of the southern rock band Drive-By Truckers, Isbell went on to release 2 more albums with the 400 Unit, 2011's Here We Rest and 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".

Credited to Isbell and his new backing band, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit finds the songwriter reprising the same formula showcased on 2007's Sirens of the Ditch: a mix of Southern rock and rootsy, melancholic country-soul that manages to both elevate and commiserate during its 52 minutes. The result may be fairly similar to Sirens' sound, but 400 Unit marks Isbell's final move away from the Truckers, whose influence permeated Sirens in its production (helmed by Patterson Hood) and host of backing musicians (including Shonna Tucker, DBT's bassist and Isbell's former wife). Here, Isbell and his four bandmates close the studio doors to outside help, allowing several horn players to make a cameo on 'No Choice in the Matter' but essentially playing everything else themselves. The result is a smart and tasteful record that sees Isbell training his songwriting eye on subjects of wartime romance, memory, and dead-end small towns. Just barely out of his twenties, he writes with the well-worn weariness of someone twice his age, but Isbell's youth nevertheless breathes energy into a formula that's been revisited by many Southern-born songwriters before.