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First: This is a wonderful, wonderful piece of writing, an excellent journalistic endeavor, & full of great photography. Read it, buy you a copy.
And/but second: Someone really needs to hire a woman to profile Jason Isbell. It could be me (really, it could be @GQMagazine hmu)
1/ https://twitter.com/GQMagazine/status/1253687400460582913
And/but second: Someone really needs to hire a woman to profile Jason Isbell. It could be me (really, it could be @GQMagazine hmu)
1/ https://twitter.com/GQMagazine/status/1253687400460582913
but as much as I will hold as a goal being paid to write about an artist whose work has straight up changed my life until I get to, the point is less ME & more A WOMAN.
Isbell has a near-singular capacity to write women who sound like women (Prine did too), a near-singular
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Isbell has a near-singular capacity to write women who sound like women (Prine did too), a near-singular
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capacity to write women not as Objects but as Subjects, as rational actors, as fully rounded characters. Not as goals, prizes, or motivators but, you know: People.
I have not only listened to all 6 1/3 solo albums hundreds of times now, I have combed & studied the lyrics.
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I have not only listened to all 6 1/3 solo albums hundreds of times now, I have combed & studied the lyrics.
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I've written about them in two separate essays, once finding a theme that runs through nearly everything he's ever written - a theme I've never seen anyone else notice, ever - & one looking at his evolution away from White Knight Syndrome. For fun! Cause I wanted to!
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There's a piece in my head about the women in Isbell's songs, but I haven't written it yet, bc if I have a hard (= thus far impossible) time selling myself as a Human Writer Writing About Your Fave Americana Artist, imagine how much harder it'd be if I pointed out my vagina?
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But the truth is that there are things in those lyrics, & in Isbell's lifestory, that men who have written about him so far either don't see or are incurious about. Things that would, I believe, be interesting to anyone & everyone interested in his work, regardless of gender.
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The GQ piece notes that there are no questions that Isbell won't answer - well, I have a couple of questions that I'd like to ask that I'm certain he'd answer, but which are not necessarily the most comfortable questions to pose. I'm not going to state them here because truly:
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One of my great professional goals is to, someday, be paid to profile him. I ain't giving away nothing.
With the reiterated understanding the GQ piece at the top of this thread is EXCELLENT, here are a few things that I believe would not have happened, had a woman written it:
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With the reiterated understanding the GQ piece at the top of this thread is EXCELLENT, here are a few things that I believe would not have happened, had a woman written it:
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First of all: Women are talked about. Isbell's wife Amanda, the women hurt by his ex-friend Ryan Adams, Traci his manager, Lady Gaga, his daughter. Not a single one is given a single quote.
Isbell himself is a FLAMING feminist. He credits women & boosts women ALL THE TIME
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Isbell himself is a FLAMING feminist. He credits women & boosts women ALL THE TIME
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He is even quoted in this piece referring to "people aren't playing you on the radio because you have a vagina" (an issue which you may recall is of rather great interest to me, as well!) - but he's one dude. If the people around him don't pick up what he's laying down...?
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Second, this sentence: "Shires had been on the road, so he'd been looking after their daughter." Nope, he'd been looking after their daughter ON HIS OWN. Typically, it's a joint task!
Isbell has talked about not framing fathers as babysitters - but the world still does.
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Isbell has talked about not framing fathers as babysitters - but the world still does.
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So. Here are my two points:
1) Read & enjoy that piece - it's a damn fine one. (Make sure to enjoy the shot of a man holding a chicken in a $3,890 jacket!)
2) Hire women to write about music and musicians. We're in there already, & your readers will get a lot out of it.
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1) Read & enjoy that piece - it's a damn fine one. (Make sure to enjoy the shot of a man holding a chicken in a $3,890 jacket!)
2) Hire women to write about music and musicians. We're in there already, & your readers will get a lot out of it.
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PS If you'd like read what I've already written about Isbell's work, here you go. Go ahead - they're good. I'm a good writer.
Jason Isbell's Road: https://medium.com/@emily.hauser/jason-isbells-road-2b91e5902aaf
From White Knight Syndrome to “White Man’s World”: The Evolution of Jason Isbell: https://medium.com/@emily.hauser/from-white-knight-syndrome-to-white-mans-world-the-evolution-of-jason-isbell-1718e3dae13a
Jason Isbell's Road: https://medium.com/@emily.hauser/jason-isbells-road-2b91e5902aaf
From White Knight Syndrome to “White Man’s World”: The Evolution of Jason Isbell: https://medium.com/@emily.hauser/from-white-knight-syndrome-to-white-mans-world-the-evolution-of-jason-isbell-1718e3dae13a
Hell, you know what I have up here on the narrow folding table serving as my desk in isolation? This. The printed lyrics to every single one of his songs, including some you don't even know he wrote. Because I wrote that second essay up here.
(PPS The highlighter in those pictures is from the research process behind writing the first thing. Not an amateur, baby!)
More than a WEEK after hitting "publish" on my review of #Reunions, it finally occurred to me to add it to this thread (my Writer hat is always on; my Publisher hat occasionally falls off my head!) https://medium.com/@emily.hauser/review-reunions-jason-isbell-and-the-400-unit-64c9a2ce4927
