Jason Isbell - Sirens of the Ditch Album Review

Jason Isbell
Sirens of the Ditch
Album Review

Jason Isbell was one of the three writers, singers and guitarists of Drive By Truckers, one of the best Southern States rock bands. Having departed that band, to stretch the range of material he can record, one might expect some kind of radical departure. However, Sirens of the Ditch stays pretty close to the pattern, but without some of the glorious crunch that the Truckers used to add in. Isbell's voice is a lot like Don Henley's and it is easy to imagine this as a long-lost Eagles album - it doesn't aim at the same kind of sophistication that Henley went for solo - with maybe a bit of Lyle Lovett (Hurricanes and Hand Grenades) in the mix. There are some outstanding songs here - In A Razor Town, The Devil Is My Running Mate, Shotgun Wedding, Try - songs which, although they don't attempt to redefine anything, are easily capable of becoming genre classics. Isbell is joined by most of the Drive By Truckers on the disc, but don't come to Sirens expecting a DBT album by proxy - this is a more genteel affair.

3.5/5

Mike Rea