Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit will celebrate their storied relationship with Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Live From the Ryman, Vol. 2. Out October 4th via Isbell’s Southeastern Records, the 15-track compilation comes six years after the first live volume.
As a Southern man, Isbell knows something about tradition and has made his annual fall Ryman residency a high point of his touring calendar. Live From the Ryman, Vol. 2 pulls from four of the last six years of sold-out shows at the Mother Church of Country Music. The collection hears Isbell and his longtime backing band highlighting songs from their last two critically-acclaimed albums, Reunions (2020) and Weathervanes (2023), as well as “The Last Song I Will Write” from the band’s 2009 self-titled studio debut and a cover of Tom Petty‘s “Room at the Top”.
To accompany the album announcement, Isbell and the Unit shared a live recording of Weathervanes standout “King of Oklahoma”. The live version tacks on a couple extra minutes compared to the studio recording, off the album Live For Live Music called Isbell’s finest collection of songs since his 2013 solo breakout, Southeastern. Onstage at the Ryman, Isbell and his band give the gritty tale of addiction in America’s heartland an even sharper edge through serrated distortion. Isbell and guitarist Sadler Vaden chop up the song with a couple incendiary solos, with Isbell serving a ripping reminder that he’s not just a once-in-a-generation lyricist but also one hell of a rock guitarist (no “three chords and the truth” for him).
Related: Review: Jason Isbell Steps Outside Himself On ‘Weathervanes’
Check out the new live recording of “King of Oklahoma” from Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s upcoming album Live From the Ryman, Vol. 2, available here for pre-order. The album will arrive on the precipice of the group’s partially sold-out eight-night return to the Ryman in mid-October. Find tickets and a full list of tour dates on Isbell’s website.
Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit — “King Of Oklahoma (Live)”
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