Georgia Blue
| Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
Georgia Blue
Georgia Blue is the eighth studio album released by Jason Isbell, and the fifth accompanied by his backing band the 400 Unit. It was released first on streaming services on October 15, 2021, through Southeastern Records, with a CD and Vinyl (for Record Store DayBlack Friday). -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
Show All-
Pitchfork
Released for charity, this star-studded covers album celebrates music from the state of Georgia. It is a joyful affair with sadness lurking in the shadows.
-
Rolling Stone
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit Stretch Musically and Have Some Fun on ‘Georgia Blue’.
-
The Arts Desk
Georgia Blue soon hits its stride, though, peaking early with a vital take on Cat Power’s “Cross Bones Style” sung by 400 Unit fiddle-player (and Isbell’s wife) Amanda Shires. It has a slow-burning moody power, drone guitar playing against violin and a real groove, like “Gimme Shelter” vibes sprinkled subtly into a My Baby or Jefferson Airplane song.
-
Cover Me
Is Georgia Blue worth your time? Put it this way: if all politicians kept their promises the way Jason Isbell kept his, there would be a lot more people praising government than there currently are. Here’s hoping it won’t take another election day to see the creation of Georgia Blue, Volume 2.
-
mxdwn Music
Though Georgia Blue may be a slightly unusual album, it holds up in multiple ways. First of all, it is yet another example of Jason Isbell continuing to deliver high-quality music. Also, seeing an artist hold true to a Twitter promise more than a year old is something that does not happen every day. Finally, the way he went about making the album—the charity and the tribute—speaks to his genius not only as a musician but as a person as well.
-
Lyric Magazine
The musicianship here is uniformly great, and you can tell Jason absolutely loves these songs. When I saw him play live last month, he talked about how much fun he had making this album, getting to jam with his friends. The technical here is certainly impressive, but what really makes this a great album is the passion shown by Jason and his fellow musicians.
-
AllMusic
The love and fire on display here confirm what his best work has always shown -- he's not just a fine songwriter, he's a top-shelf musician who lives for this stuff, and it's a pleasure to hear him dig into this material. (Money raised by this album will be donated to the Black Voters Matter Fund, the political action group Fair Fight, and the social justice organization Georgia STAND-UP.)
-
Holler
Joined by a handful of like-minded musicians, 'Georgia Blue' sees Isbell cover a selection of songs by Georgia-hailing artists. It's a delightfully loose, expertly played and above all sincere 13-track set that checks every box for a project of this kind.
Rate This Album and Leave Your Comments