- "A good country song needs two things," said Harlan Howard many years ago: "three chords and the truth".
In 2020, one of the biggest crossover stars in country music is Jason Isbell, who with his band the 400 Unit is releasing his seventh solo album Reunions. Isbell's country rock sound is not quite vintage Harlan Howard, but he has a similar vision of what ingredients are required. In the best line on the album, he sings "Tell the truth enough you'll find it rhymes with everything".
That song, Be Afraid, is about finding the courage to speak out for what's right. Isbell, an Alabama native who straddles the worlds of mainstream rock and country, has faced criticisms for his outspoken left-leaning politics. "Be afraid and do it anyway" is his response.
But in Jason Isbell's vision the truth is not just about politics and media. His lyrical honesty has long been one of his most endearing traits, and that's as true of Reunions as his previous releases.
It Gets Easier is blunt about his struggles with alcoholism. "Last night I dreamed that I'd been drinking," he sings; "I had one glass of wine, I woke up feeling fine, that's how I knew it was a dream."
Like politics, it's another example of how telling the truth can be hard but can have enormous effects. In the classic AA program, the first step of course is admitting you are powerless over your addiction, the fourth is making a fearless moral inventory of yourself.
Elsewhere, Isbell is remarkably candid about fatherhood and his marriage to fellow country singer Amanda Shires, open about a broken childhood, and in album opener What Have I Done To Help? he sings presciently in the character of someone faced with crisis. "I kept my head down, went work, watched my appetite/Put the money in the mattress, lock the doors at night, we'll be alright." He sings; "thought I was strong until I had to fight."
The song obviously wasn't written with COVID-19 in mind, but it seems apt for an individualistic society coming to grips with collective responsibility.
In the post-truth world of Trump's America, it's interesting that someone like Jason Isbell has crossed over from the alt-country niche of his old band Drive-By Truckers to become a genuine mainstream voice. Read the comment feeds online and you'll find countless people saying things like "I don't normally like country music but I love Jason Isbell."
In a world of ubiquitous advertising, partisan media, idealised social media profiles, of brazenly dishonest politicians exploiting fuzzy recollections of the good old days; Jason Isbell - the reformed alcoholic, the humble dad, the old school roots-rock singer-songwriter, brings a refreshing realness. Three chords and the truth.
- Andy Paine.