Jason Isbell is happily married to fellow musician Amanda Shires, but he chronicles a very different type of relationship on “Death Wish,” the first single from Weathervanes, his upcoming album with his band the 400 Unit.
“Did you ever catch her climbing on the roof top / higher than a kite, dead of winter in a tank top,” Isbell questions before admitting, “I don’t wanna fight with you baby but I won’t leave you alone.” Produced by Isbell and recorded at Blackbird Studios in Nashville, Weathervanes will be released on June 9 through Isbell’s Southeastern Records label and is the follow-up to 2020’s Reunions. That project achieved the neat trick of debuting at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Country, Folk, and Rock albums charts.
In a separate video released yesterday (Feb. 20), Isbell teased Weathervanes with a behind-the-scenes clip showing he and his bandmates in the studio. Narrated by ESPN’s Wright Thompson, the project is described as “songs about adult love, about change, about the danger of nostalgia and the interrogation of myths, about cruelty and regret and redemption … life and death songs, played for and by grown-ass people.”
Shires is among the guests on Weathervanes, along with harmonica legend Mickey Raphael. Ever the road dog, Isbell will be back on stage on March 1 in Calgary. He has dates booked through early August, including a May 3-4 stand at Red Rocks outside Denver in tandem with Angel Olsen.
Isbell will also be seen in the upcoming Martin Scorsese-directed, Leonardo DiCaprio-starring Apple TV+ film Killers of the Flower Moon, which will be out sometime this year. “A lot of the real pros still had to have some coaching on how to talk like they were from Oklahoma 100 years ago, but I guess I was close enough where they didn’t really need to change my accent that much,” he previously told SPIN of the experience. “I told my wife it was kind of like being asked to play bass in the Beatles. I can do it, so if I was asked of course I would play bass in the Beatles. But I’m not really a bass player and you have Paul. That’s kind of how it felt: I’m not really an actor and you have Leo, but I’ll do it because it’s awesome.”
Jason Isbell’s Weathervanes track listing:
“Death Wish”
“King of Oklahoma”
“Strawberry Woman”
“Middle of the Morning”
“Save the World”
“If You Insist”
“Cast Iron Skillet”
“When We Were Close”
“Volunteer”
“Vestavia Hills”
“White Beretta”
“This Ain’t It”
“Miles”
