Jason Isbell

Thursday · The Poison Room

It's safe to say that the Drive By Truckers changed Jason Isbell's life completely. When DBT guitarist David Malone exited in 2001 following the universally acclaimed Southern Rock Opera, the Truckers hired the then 22-year-old Isbell to replace him in the midst of the band's SRO tour. Isbell had not yet finished college when he hit the road with DBT, learning their songs in the van along the way. Three years later, longtime bassist Earl Hicks departed and the Truckers employed longtime friend Shonna Tucker, who would become Mrs. Jason Isbell.

In the present tense, Isbell continues to ring the changes. Earlier this year, his marriage to Tucker dissolved and his six-year tenure with Drive By Truckers came to an abrupt halt. On the positive side of the slate, Isbell's long-discussed solo album, Sirens of the Ditch, has just been released and he's on the road with his new band, the 400 Units, to promote it.

To those who bemoan the loss of a potent guitarist and a talented songwriter from DBT's ranks, Isbell offers a simple and understandable explanation.

"There were personal situations with the divorce that made it difficult to have as much fun on the road as people should have," Isbell says. "But more than anything, it was just a difference in priorities. Patterson (Hood) and (Mike) Cooley, they've got families, and it makes it really hard for them to stay on the road all year long when they've got kids waiting at home. I understand that. People who have put the hours in and traveled as much as anybody for 15 years or longer, they've earned the right to stay home as much as they want to. I haven't really done that. I've been on the road pretty steady for five or six years now but it's still something I want to do as much as possible, and I guess that's a good thing because I've got a pretty mean tour schedule coming up."

Sirens of the Ditch marks the debut of Isbell's solo career, but the majority of the album was recorded while he was still a member of DBT, having worked on the 11-song set piecemeal over the past two and a half years. Although the album still sports a healthy amount of the sound that Isbell brought to the Truckers six years ago, it also highlights the full range of the guitarist's diverse influences.

"A couple of the songs could have worked on those Truckers' records, but most of them are shorter and maybe more Pop -- I would say that but the definition of that word is so different than what it used to be," Isbell says. "If you're thinking Pop like Big Star or Cheap Trick, it's probably closer to that. It's not necessarily as storyteller-oriented, although those things are in there, too. They sound different because I made all the decisions about what got played and the length and what was written, but they're very similar to what I was writing with the Truckers." (Brian Baker)

Robert Randolph and the Family Band with The Robert Cray Band

Sunday · Fraze Pavilion (Kettering)

Simon Dawes

When Robert Randolph watched the Live Earth concerts in early July, the artist who stood out to him was John Mayer.

"(He initially) was just known as like a Teen Pop star," Randolph says in an interview last week. "Now he has completely changed his career around, writing songs (like) 'Waiting on the World to Change.' I watched him on that Live Earth (concert), and he really was the best one to me. It showed he had matured a lot and entered a whole new world of being an artist."

Randolph himself is trying to accomplish a similar transformation in how he's perceived by music fans. A virtuoso on pedal steel guitar, his arrival with the 2002 concert recording, Live at the Wetlands, quickly brought comparisons to such prestigiously talented guitarists as Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. Like those musicians, Randolph has changed the way pedal-steel guitar is perceived. To most people, the instrument was primarily known for the winsome twang it brings to Country music. But in Randolph's hands, it became a super-charged lead instrument.

On Live at the Wetlands and his 2003 studio debut CD, Unclassified, Randolph and the Family Band (the other members are his cousins, bassist Danyel Morgan and drummer Marcus Randolph, and keyboardist John Ginty) unleashed a collection of lively tunes that blended Rock, Gospel, Soul and Blues. The songs were overshadowed, however, by Randolph's stunning leads. But with his 2006 follow-up CD, he was out to prove he was more than just an accomplished and innovative musician. He wanted to take a significant step forward as a songwriter and gain recognition for that talent as well. It's a goal he felt he achieved.

"We've written way better songs for this one," Randolph said when he spoke to me in summer 2006. "Not to look down on Unclassified, but it's just like (we've) grown up."

Randolph was right to tout the improved songcraft on the new Colorblind. A pair of songs -- the rousing funkified "Ain't Nothing Wrong With That" and the rocking "Deliver Me" (which shows a strong Sly and the Family Stone influence) -- surpass any songs Randolph had recorded earlier. Other highlights include the soulful "Diane;" a lovely ballad, "Stronger," which features guest vocals from Leela James; and the energized version of the Doobie Brothers' "Jesus Is Just Alright," which is one of several songs that features some stellar pedal-steel playing.

This fall, Randolph will take a break from touring behind Colorblind to do a whole different kind of show.

"We're going to be a part of this (Jimi) Hendrix tribute tour, where some artists come along and we do a bunch of Hendrix songs," Randolph says. "It's going to be a tour with me, Jonny Lang, Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin, a bunch of different guys. It starts in October. The backing band will be like Mitch Mitchell (drummer in the Jimi Hendrix Experience) and Billy Cox, I think (who played bass in Hendrix's Band of Gypsies). So we'll see how that goes." (Alan Sculley)

Simon Dawes with Incubus and The Bravery

Sunday · Riverbend Music Center

Robert Randolph

That Kinks-ian shiver running down your appreciative spine after a spin through Carnivore, the debut album from Malibu, Calif., quartet Simon Dawes, is no mere coincidence.

"A lot of the records we were listening to at the time were like The Kinks' 'Waterloo Sunset,' " says Simon Dawes guitarist/co-songwriter Blake Mills. "That song is kind of sad and ballady and the band doesn't have to play it too delicately; they can almost be kind of happy-go-lucky and it's still somber. It's almost like the band doesn't know how sad it is. That's what attracted us and that's what we were trying to do."

Although Taylor Goldsmith, Simon Dawes' lead vocalist and other primary songwriter, has the world-weary croon of a long-lost Davies brother, the band's sound goes beyond simple hero worship. Goldsmith and Mills (who each contributed a middle name to christen the band) have drawn inspiration from albums nearly twice their age, but the contemporary Indie Pop manner in which they interpret their influences is fresh as this morning's catch.

"We spend 70 percent of our day listening to music and 100 percent thinking about it," Mills says. "When we were younger, we would hear a song we were stoked about and dissect it like diligent little students. The songs we would write would have those qualities, then we would shy away from that. After a while, it would just be natural."

Simon Dawes convened when high school friends Goldsmith and Mills acted on their longtime band dream, quickly adding drummer Stuart Johnson and bassist Wylie Gelber, the absolute best rhythm section for their mature-beyond-its-years songwriting style. They focused on their blossoming sonic texture, incorporating Steely Dan's swing, Jellyfish's Pop rush, the Kinks' dancehall cool and Spoon's visceral Indie sheen.

A few shows into Simon Dawes' existence, iconic producer Tony Berg caught their act and offered himself as a mentor/sounding board, after which the band signed with Record Collection for a pair of EPs comprised of demos recorded in Johnson's home studio. For their full album, the band did pre-production rehearsals at Berg's house, which they naturally recorded. Underwhelmed by their legitimate studio recordings, they utilized the rehearsal demos that comprise the majority of Carnivore.

"We opened these tracks and we were like, 'Whoa, this sounds better,' " Mills says. "So we just mixed those, for the most part. We would overdub the lead vocal but we couldn't get rid of the original vocal that Taylor sang, so we have some double vocal stuff going on. It sounds like an effect but we couldn't help it." (BB)