Album of the Week: 'Weathervanes' by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit is out with the group’s sixth album together, Weathervanes — the ninth for Isbell. 

The new album has a different feel than the last album, Reunions. The making of Reunions was immortalized in a recent HBO documentary about Isbell, Running With Our Eyes Closed. The recording of the album took place amid the early days of the pandemic.

Like his songwriting, what the camera caught was authentic and gritty, including tough conversations and difficult times between Isbell and his wife Amanda Shires.

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What's it take to plan a big music festival in rural Minnesota?

Featuring headliner Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit along with Amanda Shires, Shemekia Copeland and Dessa, Grand Rapids Riverfest is expected to draw about 3,500 people. Tickets go on sale 8 a.m. Friday, April 28, at grandrapidsriverfest.com/tickets.

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Weathervanes comes out on the other side of that experience and seems to have found the Nashville family in a reconciled place.

The album speaks on tough topics, including mass shootings, what it is to love imperfect humans, being a father, grappling with faith and, as Isbell’s covered in the past, racial reckoning.

After taking a leave from working with producer Dave Cobb, the group self-produced the album. This approach seemed to capture more of what the band brings to their live shows. Shires (also performing at the Grand Rapids Riverfest) once again joins the 400 Unit with her harmonies and fiddle. Weathervanes showcases a cohesiveness with the band, and a peace from Isbell in the new songs.

Weathervanes is out on Friday, June 9. See Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit live with Shires, Shemekia Copeland and Dessa at the Grand Rapids Riverfest on Saturday, September 9.