It takes something pretty special to transform a room as pristine as Philadelphia’s World Café Live into a loud, sweaty rock club, but Jason Isbell managed to do just that.
Among the largest places Isbell will play during this tour, the World Café surely wasn’t at capacity last Friday. Yet it’s hard to imagine another single joule of energy in the room. Isbell himself even took notice—thanking the crowd for bringing the show to another level, the way only a full house usually can. And Isbell needed the pick-me-up. Just a week into a two-month tour, Isbell was already liberally spraying Chloraseptic down his throat, trying to stave of a combination of fatigue and fever.
But it was the guitar licks traded between Isbell and 400 Unit guitarist Browan Lollar that caused the mercury to rise through the roof. Not being a longtime Drive-By Truckers’ fan, what excited me the most—aside from Lollar’s lead vocals on the David Byrne classic "Psycho Killer"—was the effortless guitar interplay between the two. Both extremely skilled at their craft, they jam and play to the crowd with incredible ease.
At this lunchtime radio concert for Philly’s WXPN, Isbell and his 400 Unit didn’t stray from their newly released self-titled album—very much a Muscle Shoals record, replete with plenty of high-hats and hopping horns. At one time, Jason implored the crowd to come back in the evening "if you want to hear the old stuff." The band held up its end of the bargain, delighting the loyal crowd with two of Isbell’s Drive-By Truckers classics, and others from his solo debut Sirens of the Ditch, mixing in the Talking Heads cover along with versions of Van Morrison’s "Into the Mystic," and the Heartbreaker’s "American Girl."
Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit: (Official / MySpace)
Stimulate some wallets! Purchase: Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit | Sirens of the Ditch
