Album Of The Week: Jason Isbell Foxes In The Snow

The first time I heard Jason Isbell’s music, I was at Hangout, the music festival that used to take place on the beach in his native Alabama. (This year, in an extremely Trump’s America™ development, they’re replacing it with a fest curated by Morgan Wallen, the troublemaking country megastar who famously turned Isbell’s “Cover Me Up” into a country radio hit.) The encounter took place in May 2013, a few weeks before the release of Isbell’s career-altering masterpiece Southeastern. He was performing on a side stage a little ways back from the sand, singing earnest alt-country ballads backed by a small but skillful band. Between songs, he made it a point to talk up his violinist and backup singer, Amanda Shires, who he’d married a few months prior — not that I could have missed Shires, whose contributions added color and grace to Isbell’s material. They seemed like a perfect match.