Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at Bonnaroo, June 16, 2024
De la Soul tells us that three is the magic number; for celebrated songsmith Jason Isbell and his crack band the 400 Unit, it would seem that said mystic numeral is in fact eight. Isbell's annual residency at the Ryman grew steadily longer over the past decade and seems to have topped out at eight shows (its length for the past couple years in a row). Just a few days after Isbell & Co. played Bonnaroo, their next residency at the Mother Church has been announced for an eight-night run in October.
As usual, the 400 Unit will use the opportunity to spotlight a bunch of great artists whose opening sets you will not want to miss. This year the complement includes a wide range of great songwriters who are women.
Alice Randall, whose work as a Music Row songsmith was recently recontextualized on the fantastic album My Black Country, appears on opening night, Thursday, Oct. 10. Garrison Starr follows on Oct. 11, Mary Gauthier on Oct. 12 and the mother-daughter duo of Liz and Caitlin Rose wrap up the first leg of the series on Oct. 13. The run picks back up on Thursday, Oct. 17, with Matraca Berg, Iris Dement on Oct. 18, Gretchen Peters on Oct. 19 and Kim Richey joining in for the last show on Oct. 20.
