Lightning Rod

There was never a question of whether Jason Isbell could stand on his own after parting ways with the Drive-By Truckers – the question was what his music would sound like. On his first couple trips into the studio, he steered his Southern rock in a soulful direction. Here We Rest is a different animal – the closest Isbell’s come to a country album. Sure, there’s some muscular guitar playing and a perfectly respectable cover of the Southern soul gem “Heart on a String.” But the pace and texture are down-home and down-and-out, from “Alabama Pines” – with its bare-bones pulse and keening fiddle – to the scruffy string band shuffle “Codeine” and the stripped-down blue country ballad “Save it for Sunday.” The feel fits Isbell’s characters; he’s burrowed further into their troubles and proven himself to be one of the most potent Southern storytellers at work today.