Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit to release new album ‘Weathervanes’ in June

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit will release new album ‘Weathervanes’ on 9th June 2023 via Southeastern Records/Thirty Tigers.

The 13-track record is written and produced by Isbell and the lead single ‘Death Wish’ is available to stream now.

‘Death Wish’ is about being in love with someone suffering from depression, with a powerful universal undercurrent about the fragility of life and the power and limits of love. That grown-up kind of love. Musically the track is beautiful and fascinating. Now it feels complicated and intricate, yet never fragile, like the subject of the song itself. As the first track it announces that Isbell is an artist growing, exploring new musical frontiers. The Sylvia Massy-added strings make it bold and ambitious, with the cinematic tone of a Bond theme.

‘Weathervanes’ is a collection of grown-up songs: Songs about adult love, about change, about the danger of nostalgia and the interrogation of myths, about cruelty and regret and redemption. Some will make you cry alone in your car and others will make you sing along with thousands of strangers in a big summer pavilion, united in the great miracle of being alive. Isbell is a storyteller at the peak of his craft, observing his fellow wanderers, looking inside and trying to understand, reducing a universe to four minutes.

“There is something about boundaries on this record,” said Isbell. “As you mature, you still attempt to keep the ability to love somebody fully and completely while you’re growing into an adult and learning how to love yourself.”

‘Weathervanes’ was recorded at Nashville’s Blackbird Studio and features Isbell’s GRAMMY-winning band, the 400 Unit: Derry deBorja (Acoustic Piano, Electric Piano, Organ, Accordion, Synthesizers, Therevox, TackPiano, Background Vocals), Chad Gamble (Drums, Percussion, Congas), Jimbo Hart (Electric Bass, Bass), and Sadler Vaden (Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Electric 12 String, Acoustic 12 String, Background Vocals).

Special guests include GRAMMY winner Amanda Shires (Fiddle, Background Vocals) and acclaimed harmonicist Mickey Raphael (Harmonica on ‘Strawberry Woman’) with Background Vocals on ‘If You Insist’ by renowned producer and engineer Sylvia Massy & Ian Rickard andStrings on ‘Death Wish’ by Morgan O’Shaughnessey. 

The tracklisting for ‘Weathervanes’ is:

1. Death Wish
2. King of Oklahoma
3. Strawberry Woman
4. Middle Of The Morning
5. Save The World
6. If You Insist
7. Cast Iron Skillet
8. When We Were Close
9. Volunteer
10. Vestavia Hills
11. White Beretta
12. This Ain’t It
13. Miles