Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit Keep on Rocking at the Ryman

If you show up just in time to see Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit play at the Ryman, you’re not doing it right. Each night of Isbell and band’s nearly annual run has become a mini-festival, and the guests he invites are an integral part of the tradition. In a 2017 interview with NPR before the release of The Nashville Sound, Isbell stated what has become the thesis of his recurring residency at the Mother Church: “Doors are open to me, and I'll be damned if I'm not going to walk through them. But I'm also going to try to hold them for somebody else before they slam in their face.”

Now that he has the keys to Nashville’s most storied venue — metaphorically at least, though it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn that management has actually given him a set — he’s welcomed an array of artists to share the stage. The bookings have consistently crossed arbitrary genre boundaries and struck blows against insidious racial and gender gaps in the music industry. This year’s shows largely spotlight the blues, a nod to the black music and black artists who are central to the roots and Americana music that has been resurgent in recent years. 

Another tradition, though, is that Isbell’s Ryman shows are a family affair. Amanda Shires and her band opened Friday night’s kickoff, and she also played fiddle alongside Isbell, her husband. (Somewhere in there, she also managed to hustle over to Ascend Amphitheater to sing a few Highwomen songs with Maren Morris. She was back with The 400 Unit on Saturday, too.)  

Saturday night’s show got underway with The Rising Stars Fife and Drum Band marching onto the stage. Leading the group was Shardé Thomas, who took the helm when her grandfather Otha Turner died in 2003. She was playing his old bamboo fife. 

Isbell would later recall seeing Thomas and her drummers in Memphis, noting that he’d never seen anything like it. I never have either, but it was great. Watching Thomas play the fife with such speed and precision — and still have breath left to add pitch-perfect vocals to the group’s hill-country sound — was transfixing. After one tune, Thomas told the Ryman crowd that she and the band had just made the song up. She promised to name it after the venue: “Now I just have to remember it next time I play it.” Thomas and her three drummers left the stage to a standing ovation. 

Soon after, the house lights went down again and Isbell’s bird-and-anchor logo lit up onstage. If you’ve ever seen Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, you know what I’m going to say next: They tore it up. 

After moving quickly through an opening trio of popular songs off his two most recent records — “24 Frames,” “Hope the High Road” and “Something More Than Free” — Isbell & Co. offered an intriguing hint at what’s coming next in the form of a great straight-ahead rock song called “Overseas.” (Isbell has said he plans to go back into the studio in December.) 

After playing the instant classic off of The Nashville Sound, “If We Were Vampires,” Isbell thanked the faithful for coming out, saying there was no better place to have a fun night than the Ryman. 

“It’s either this or a pedal tavern,” he quipped, prompting knowing groans from the locals in the pews. 

A whole week’s worth of shows offers the opportunity not just to feature a varied group of openers but to make each night unique by changing up the set list. Saturday, Isbell played the fan favorite “Outfit” — a song from his days with the Drive-By Truckers, written for his dad, which his dad was on hand to hear — and the heartbreaking Southeastern track “Elephant.” Neither song appeared on the set the night before or the night after, and although “Elephant” is one of the best songs in Isbell’s catalog it is not a mainstay in his sets. (A personal note here: The drunk fool who feels that a song about a friend dying of cancer is a good opportunity to act like he’s at a damn Titans game should stay home next year.) 

For their encores, Isbell and the band have included different covers each night so far. On Friday, they played Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well.” On Saturday, it was a flawless rendition of Crosby, Stills and Nash’s “Helplessly Hoping.” Sunday night’s show included “Brothers in Arms” by Dire Straits. 

This year’s Ryman shows also coincide with the release of remixed and remastered versions of the band’s first two records: 2009’s Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit and 2011’s Here We Rest. Recent sets have featured tunes from those records as well. On Saturday, Isbell served up “Tour of Duty” and “Alabama Pines” along with “Cigarettes and Wine.” The latter, Isbell noted, is his manager Traci Thomas’ favorite song from his catalog. He joked about the implication that he hasn’t done anything worth a damn in the decade since. (All jokes aside, it is a really good song.)

Noting the re-releases, Isbell encouraged the crowd to check them out, whether by buying them at Grimey’s or streaming them online. He confessed that he’d love to “have a way lot of money,” but that he didn’t really care how his fans listened to the songs. 

"I'm not in charge of what people pay for and what people don't pay for," he said. "So what I'm not gonna do is ask a bunch of folks who have medical bills, and kids, and diapers and milk and food to buy — and every once in a while a chance to go out on a Saturday night and get to see a show — I'm not gonna ask you to pay for shit. If you want the record, just get it however you want to get it, and listen to it. And I hope you enjoy it."

The crowd roared their appreciation for the sentiment. And by the looks of the lines at the merch tables, many in attendance were happy to throw some cash Isbell’s way in order to commemorate the evening with a date-specific T-shirt or poster. 

Jason Isbell at the Ryman is a little piece of what makes Nashville great, and the experience is not one to be missed. But if you did, there’s always next year. 

See our slideshow for more photos.

Set List: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at the Ryman, 10/19/2019

• 24 Frames
• Hope The High Road
• Something More Than Free
• Overseas
• If We Were Vampires 
• Alabama Pines
• Elephant 
• Stockholm
• Cigarettes and Wine
• Codeine 
• Different Days
• White Man’s World
• Outfit
• Last of My Kind
• Tour of Duty
• Cover Me Up
• Super 8

Encore:

• Helplessly Hoping (Crosby, Stills and Nash cover)
• Never Gonna Change