New Ringtones Available

30 Mar 2009

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit now have ringtones available for $2.99 each. Make sure the read the fine print below*!



Text
Jason2 to 66555 for
"Seven-Mile Island"



Text
Jason3 to 66555 for
"Good"



Text
Jason4 to 66555 for
"Soldiers Get Strange"



Text Jason5 to
66555 for
"However Long"


Users will be charged $2.99 per ringtone/$1.99 per polytone or wallpaper. No subscription. Charges will appear on wireless bill or be deducted from prepaid minutes. Msg&Data rates may apply. Offer available for T-Mobile, Sprint, and Virgin Mobile subscribers with compatible phones. Must be at least 18 years old or have parent’s permission to participate. All purchases must be authorized by the account holder. Opt -out: Text STOP to 66555 to cancel anytime. Help: Text HELP to 66555 or call 866.272.9292. To view our Privacy Policy visit:http://www.ringtonejukebox.com/privacy.asp

"Soldiers Get Strange" Live Video - Only at Blurt!

25 Mar 2009

Head over to Blurt to see Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit performing "Soldiers Get Strange" live  down in Muscle Shoals recently. The song comes from the band's eponymous album - which landed a 10-stars-out-of-10-stars review in Blurt - and it positively kills.

Washington Post Live Review

04 Mar 2009

Here's a review of the 9.30 Club show from the Washington Post.

Live Last Night: Jason Isbell

So this is why Jason Isbell didn't want to stick with the Drive-ByTruckers, feeling like Joe Walsh: Because he's as confident andmagnetic a frontman as he is prolific and able a songwriter.

We already knew Isbell could pair a pithy lyric to an indelible hookand sell it with a clean, sympathetic delivery --his contributions tothree DBT albums circa 2003-6, and the two strong records he's madesince, told us that. But the 105-minute controlled-burn he and hisband, the 400 Unit, lit up at the 9:30 Club last night unmasked Isbellas the runner-up to nobody, a blonde-pompadoured demon-spawn of BruceSpringsteen, Carlos Santana, and Buck Owens.

The latter seems the least of Isbell's current influences -- thetwang-clinations of his Trucker years are largely gone now, replaced bythe stratospheric hum of a fluid, muscular five-piece rock-and-soulband. The group imbued each number with such visceral punch that almostany one of them could have been the finale and it wouldn't have feltwrong.

Isbell set the more-is-more tone right from the opener, aneight-minute-extrapolation of "Brand New Kind of Actress," an insistentrocker of the Rolling Stones school. Its opening line, "You said you'dheard of me" resonated more than Isbell might've wanted, sung to ahalf-full room, but if he was troubled by all that vacant real estate,he didn't show it. "It's an honor to play the 9:30 club, the best clubin America," he announced humbly after the tune thundered to a close.

The 16-song set he went on to piece together found room for many of hissturdiest DBT numbers (the aching "Goddamn Lonely Love," "Never GonnaChange"), but was surprisingly light on material from his new,self-titled 400 Unit album. Other curve balls? How 'bout the TalkingHeads' "Psycho Killer," repurposed as a gnarly rocker and sung byguitarist Brownan Lollar? Great song, great performance, lousy timing:It followed two excellent cost-of-war tunes -- the new "Soldiers GetStrange" and the already-classic "Dress Blues," dedicated to fallenMarine Matthew Conley -- giving the story-arc of psychological erosionand violence an unintentionally flippant coda. Anywhere else in the setwould have been better.

The encores quickly righted the ship: Based on how the crowd bayedalong, "Outfit" remains the most beloved of Isbell's DBT numbers aswell as his best. "Hurricanes and Hand Grenades" is a slice of humidSouthern soul you wish Otis Redding or Ray Charles could've sung, and"The Assassin" -- well, that's a song by Pattersoon Hood, who missedthe Truckers' two 9:30 shows last month on account of pneumonia. Isbellwished his former bandmate a speedy recovery and dedicated theperformance to him. So he puts on a good act, maybe, but anybody whocan tear it up like this ain't no Southern gentleman.

-- CHRIS KLIMEK

SXSW Schedule

04 Mar 2009

For those of you in Austin for SXSW, here are a few spots you'll see Jason & the 400 Unit:


Thursday March 19th (4pm):
Waterloo Records in-store (FREE!)


Friday March 20th:
5pm:  Homeslice Party (with Von Bondies, Alberta Cross, and more.  FREE)
11pm:  Ground Control Touring showcase at Habana Bar Backyard (708 E 6th St.)