BY FRED MILLS

Asheville might as well grant honorary-citizen status to Jason Isbell. He’s certainly performed here enough, both with the Drive-By Truckers (who play Asheville at least twice a year, sometimes more) and, since leaving the band in April of 2007, as a solo act. His unofficial post-Truckers coming out party in Asheville was last December at the 2007 Warren Haynes Christmas Jam weekend, during which he and his new group the 400 Unit did several sets around town — but of course, the many relationships he’d already forged locally in the past meant that he wasn’t so much received here as a visiting rock star as an old friend hanging out and catching up.

That was precisely the sense you got at his latest Asheville appearance, an acoustic show featuring just Isbell and his 400 Unit guitarist Browan Lollar playing in front of a sold-out, seated audience. The Grey Eagle, located west of downtown near the thriving artists-and-brewers enclave known as the River District, is an intimate, comfortable venue with great sound — ideal for a sit-down show such as this (although the club hosts plenty of turbocharged indie rock shows, too). The pair strode onstage to a noisy welcome, settled down in chairs separated by a small lamp-lit table, and then they were off onto lengthy exploration of material from Isbell’s first solo album, 2007’s Sirens of the Ditch, selected tunes from his Truckers’ tenure, and even a few unexpected covers.

Make no mistake: “intimate” and “comfortable” though the setting/vibe was, Isbell’s and Lollar’s performance frequently reached intensity levels to rival their electric incarnation. One observer remarked to me that they brought to mind Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds at their most high-flying, and as anyone knows from seeing a favorite artist go the unplugged route and revisit rock songs from a fresh perspective, acoustic guitars don’t automatically breed “mellow.” Case in point: after some intricate Isbell-Lollar guitar musings during “Goddam Lonely Love” (an Isbell composition from the DBT’s The Dirty South) the two eased into a modal-flavored, Jorma Kaukonen/Pete Townshend bluesy interlude that in turn morphed into a raw, down ‘n’ dirty slide guitar showcase for Isbell as he essayed Sirens’ “Down In A Hole.” A similar moment occurred with “Try”: the heaviest number on Sirens, it’s so ablaze with screaming ‘70s southern rock riffs that it was surprising to hear Isbell unveil it for this show, but pull it out he did, stripping it back only in volume and letting his and Lollar’s dueling fretboards take it down an extended path rich in dynamic crests and textural shifts before building to a raveup conclusion as satisfying as the album version. As BLURT Associate Editor and photographer Andy Tennille whooped enthusiastically in my ear, “You don’t get to see Jason like this too often!”

There were gentler moments, of course. Early in the evening, back-to-back readings of Sirens standouts “Chicago Promenade” and “Hurricanes and Hand Grenades” illuminated Isbell’s soulful side, and it’s worth noting that his voice has noticeably seasoned and matured considerably since his Truckers days (it’s also worth noting that his vocal gifts were somewhat overlooked while he was in the Truckers). That point was underscored later in the set when he did “Decoration Day” (from the Truckers album of the same name); Isbell’s voice turned oddly luminous, almost hanging in the air to drape the elliptical strum pattern the two guitarists were weaving. And a cover of Ray LaMontagne’s “Jolene” — prefaced by a funny monologue of meeting LaMontagne at one of the Haynes Christmas Jams (Isbell: “Hey, are you having fun?” LaMontagne [dourly]: “Man, I don’t really have fun…”) — was sweet and, yes, soulful.

“Asheville loves you, Jason!” a voice shouted out between songs at one point, to which Isbell peered out into the crowd and grinned broadly. Feels like home here. There was a definite loop of positive energy that audience and performers were feeding upon, an energy loop that very nearly overloaded when Isbell ploughed into the Rolling Stones’ “Sway.” Kicking his legs out for punctuation as he barked and wailed and unleashed sleek slide riffs, Isbell’s mania boiled over until the crowd was hooting and wailing right back at him. If this show were a polling station, Isbell the candidate and the audience the electorate, we’d have a new — singing, songwriting, guitar-slinging, patent leather shell Adidas-wearing — leader by now. He closed things out with a soaring, inspired reading of Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic” (found on the 400 Unit’s limited edition EP Live at Twist & Shout 11.16.07) to seal the deal.

Backstage afterwards, Isbell flopped on a large stuffed sofa, surrounded by friends and well-wishers (about 90 % of them of the comely female variety) and beaming. Two and a half hours worth of fine musical wine. Mission accomplished.

***

POSTSCRIPT: Earlier in the day, Jason had graciously sat down with three members of the BLURT editorial crew — yours truly, Associate Ed. Andy Tennille and Multi-Media Director Allie Goolrick — and fielded interview questions as the cameras, operated by Asheville multimedia company Bclip Productions, rolled for an upcoming Blurt-online video exclusive. One key bit of info we learned: he’s almost completed his second solo album, recording again at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals and self-producing it with the 400 Unit backing him up; he hopes to be done sometime in October.

He and Lollar were also filmed performing a couple of songs (“In A Razor Town” and “The Magician”), and while they played a few people wandered into the otherwise empty Grey Eagle to observe from the back of the room. Looking up from the mic, Isbell greeted them warmly — friends, obviously. After the taping session was done he put his guitar away and walked over to them and everyone repaired outside for a smoke and a beer.

“Asheville’s kind of like a second home to you, huh?” I remarked to Jason as I shook his hand to leave. “Oh, it sure is!” he replied, nodding and grinning. “I love it here.”

Not that it took a rocket scientist to figure that out.

[NOTE: Special thanks to The Grey Eagle (www.thegreyeagle.com) for letting BLURT take over their room for a couple of hours. Thanks to Jason and Browan for putting up with BLURT. And thanks to Jason’s label New West for setting things up.]

[Photos Credit: Andy Tennille… to view more of Tennilles Isbell photos, go to his Liner Note Junkie website]