Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit In Concert: Fateful Attractions

Visibly excited to kick off his latest US tour leg in Grand Rapids (especially after persistent rain dogged his 2025 show in the same location), Jason Isbell laid out his cards right from the downbeat of anthemic rocker “Hope the High Road”:

I heard enough of the white man’s blues
I’ve sang enough about myself
So if you’re looking for some bad news
You can find it somewhere else

Last year was a son of a bitch
For nearly everyone we know
But I ain’t fighting with you down in a ditch
I’ll meet you up here on the road

I know you’re tired
And you ain’t sleeping well
Uninspired
And likely mad as hell
But wherever you are
I hope the high road leads you home again
To a world you want to live in

It’s Isbell’s subject matter in a nutshell: Everyman up against the wall, battling his demons and straining to make contact. Whether caught up in the daily struggle for sobriety (“It Gets Easier”), a generation-spanning family feud (the Drive-By Truckers classic “Decoration Day”), the stifling conformity of big city (“Last of My Kind”) and Southern home town (“Crimson and Clay”), or the hell of war (“Dress Blues”), his protagonists constantly stare down inevitable fate. And typically, fate wins: the singer of “Gravelweed” laments the wounds inflicted on a former partner (though not without a tremulous assertion of his own growth); the folky ballad “Live Oak” shifts imperceptibly from haunting sentiment to quiet, understated horror; the elegy of “Elephant” proves unsparing in both its depiction of cancer and its devastating punchline (“There’s one thing that’s real clear to me/No one dies with dignity/We just try to ignore the elephant somehow.”) In his own voice or inhabiting a character, Isbell knows that, in the end, we all run out of road in this world.

So what hope is there, given Isbell’s grim, wry vision of God as distant at best (“Last of My Kind”), actively uncaring at worst (the exhilarating, chilling rocker “24 Frames”)? His consolations turn out to be the simple, small attractions that move, leverage and sustain connection; familial bonds unpacked in fatherly advice (his Truckers breakthrough song “Outfit”); beauty recalled in the depths of barrenness (“Alabama Pines”); pride taken in meaningless, backbreaking work (“Something More Than Free”); art and music’s power to conjure up space, freedom, little victories (“Ride to Robert’s”). And, evanescent as it can be, a love as strong as death, fiercely yet tenderly rendered in the tough country ballads “Cover Me Up” and “If We Were Vampires”.

In sum, Jason Isbell is one genuinely mighty songwriter. And while he did toss out a semi-serious apology for so many “sad-ass songs”, he knows it and revels in it. Throughout the night, he sang with conviction and gusto, his finely detailed vocals shading the dark corners or lighting up fleeting moments of triumph. And while Isbell’s songs are more than good enough to stand on their own, his 400 Unit puts bone, muscle and skin on the heart and soul at their core; like Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, they serve the music with grit and grace. Isbell considers his guitar playing “a hobby”, but he’s perfectly fine on both rhythm and lead – fluent, stylish, down-home or bluesy as the tune requires. Guitarist Sadler Vaden and keyboardist Derrick DeBorja proved both sympathetic duet partners with Isbell and down-and-dirty ensemble players; bassist Anna Butterss (the heartbeat of jazz guitarist Jeff Parker’s ETA IVTet – talk about versatility!) and drummer Chad Gamble rocked hard and grooved with flair; utility player Will Johnson amped up the power chords, held down the acoustic strumming, or joined Gamble to toughen the backbeat as the songs required.

So as the sun went down, Isbell and the 400s rolled into a pile-driving set close and encore. With Gamble slowing the beat ever so slightly and the now-vivid lighting hitting dramatic heights, “King of Oklahoma”, “Cover Me Up” and “If We Were Vampires” got the crowd on their feet; the Truckers’ melancholy, transcendent ode to The Band “Danko/Manuel” (“Can you hear that singing sounds like gold/Maybe I can only hear it in my head/Fifteen years ago they owned that road/Now it’s rolling over us instead/Richard Manuel is dead”) and fiery getaway rocker “This Ain’t It” (culminating in a Isbell/Vaden duet that reached peak Allman Brothers territory) left them hungry for more.

Jason Isbell is the real thing, one of the leading voices in today’s American music, fearlessly digging deep into the human condition, the pull of fate and the push of attraction. The 400 Unit fit his songs like a glove; as a collective, they make a powerful, compelling noise that straddles rock and country, yielding maximum emotional impact. On record, this music is impressive; live, this band is even more so, well worth hearing and seeing when they head in your direction.

Jason Isbell tours, with and without The 400 Unit, through November 2026; show dates are here. Setlist at Meijer Gardens Amphitheater, July 23, 2026: