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Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Chris Stapleton, and Other Good Stuff


Seasick Sailor

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I've listened to that song a bunch and never really figured it all out until I just read the lyrics.
I'd always took it as a couple of older folks fooling around (kind of a theme on that album) and the man trying to keep his distance, but I never grasped that she commits suicide.

How do you figure? The lyrics say she left on a train. I assume you see that as a metaphor?
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9 minutes ago, Celery Man said:

I was already looking for it (suicide) when I listened to the song, but “stains on the rugs and the curtains” with “note left on the stairs” feels suicide to me. The train line could be a metaphor.

Stains got me too, but then he describes them as ordinary wear and tear. The note and him promising not to tell anyone makes me think suicide. And I guess the overall cold and dreary tone. 

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The album ends with the song “Blackberry Winter,” a Southern term for an unexpected cold snap in May or June, when the blackberry bushes are in bloom. McMurtry assumes the persona of a new boyfriend of an older woman, whose children have all moved away and left her with none of the activities that have always warded off the depression. And when the blues come on strong like a cold snap, she’s tempted to fill her pockets with rocks and walk into the river, like Virginia Woolf. The narrator can only “tell you no and tell you no and tell you no.” He can only offer the good cheer of the song’s bouncy, descending melodic line.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tyler Childers at Red Rocks last night. Just an awesome show. I went in with low expectations and loved every minute. There was almost a riot when he didn’t play “Feathered Indians”. He opened with eight or ten acoustic songs and then added the band. I have never seen an artist do that. I would have been ok if the entire show had been acoustic. 
His stage presence and mannerisms reminded me very much of Evan Felker- especially how he holds his arms when he sings, and how he doesn’t seem to make eye contact with the crowd. 

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1 hour ago, tbone_ said:

Why would you have low expectations?

I enjoy his music when it comes across my radio, but I don’t follow him very closely and don’t know much about him. Have some friends who helped me out when I was in a bind, so I lined up tickets, hotel rooms, and transportation with the expectation that I was going to do everything I could to have a good time and enjoy the show. 
“Low expectations” wasn’t anything against Mr. Childers, just a recognition that I didn’t know much about the subject matter at hand. Was very, very impressed. 

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14 minutes ago, Kennythetiger said:

I enjoy his music when it comes across my radio, but I don’t follow him very closely and don’t know much about him. Have some friends who helped me out when I was in a bind, so I lined up tickets, hotel rooms, and transportation with the expectation that I was going to do everything I could to have a good time and enjoy the show. 
“Low expectations” wasn’t anything against Mr. Childers, just a recognition that I didn’t know much about the subject matter at hand. Was very, very impressed. 

For reasons, I never tire of hearing Follow You to Virgie.

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On 9/28/2023 at 8:48 AM, Kennythetiger said:

Tyler Childers at Red Rocks last night. Just an awesome show. I went in with low expectations and loved every minute. There was almost a riot when he didn’t play “Feathered Indians”. He opened with eight or ten acoustic songs and then added the band. I have never seen an artist do that. I would have been ok if the entire show had been acoustic. 
His stage presence and mannerisms reminded me very much of Evan Felker- especially how he holds his arms when he sings, and how he doesn’t seem to make eye contact with the crowd. 

I saw him at Willie's picnic a couple years ago and there were some drunk frat bros that were super pissed he didn't play Whitehouse Road, which he rarely plays live anymore precisely because of frat bros like them. 

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4 minutes ago, Scraps said:

Yeah i know no one will agree on this thread with all you fan boys, but you can dislike stuff from artists lol. Not a fan of that one.
 

I couldn't stand Isbell's last couple albums and made that pretty clear in this thread.

I just don't get how someone listens to that song and gets Dishwalla from it.

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I freaking love "Love You Just the Same" and have never really gotten that into anything else Will Johnson has done.  Even though pretty much every musician I like and lots of people with similar tastes to me hold him in the highest regard.

I did find him really good when I saw him open for John Moreland awhile back.

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7 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I freaking love "Love You Just the Same" and have never really gotten that into anything else Will Johnson has done.  Even though pretty much every musician I like and lots of people with similar tastes to me hold him in the highest regard.

I did find him really good when I saw him open for John Moreland awhile back.

Same here.  I get to see him quite a bit just living here and seeing him open shows or sit in with my faves.  He does bust out a tune every now and then that blows me away though.

Good example:

 

I do like the Marie/Lepanto albums A LOT though.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/5/2023 at 6:15 PM, Celery Man said:

At that tempo it reminded me of… this one a bit? It’s been a minute since I’ve rocked some Ryan Adams but this is what it was taking me to a bit.

I love it, but I love a lot of mid 90s alternative rock anyways.

The first thing I thought of when I heard when When Were Close was that it sounds like Ryan Adams's Gimme Something Good. As I recall Adams made that whole album as a 90's arena rock tribute.

It seems to me that a lot of Weathervane's songs are tributes to various artists.  I hear Allman Bros in Middle of the Morning and Miles is basically a Neil Young song.

 

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12 hours ago, UTexasFight said:

Man that’s a lot of talking.

. . . and he kinda missed some of the key artists in the shift away from hair metal.  Number one on that list was Guns 'n Roses in 1987, even if they didn't totally kill pop metal off.  He also makes a weird reference to REM getting big in the 90's.  Uh, they were also huge by 1987, dude.

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