Jason Isbell announces socially distanced shows
In another year, Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit would have spent much of the past few months on the road, touring in support of their great 2020 album Reunions. The coronavirus has kept that from happening in 2020, of course, but now they have announced a trio of outdoor, socially distanced shows. They’ll perform at Pelham, TN’s The Caverns on October 9, 10, and 11; tickets go on sale Friday, September 18 at 10 AM CT.
The Caverns’ underground cave system is known as a unique subterranean location for live music, but these shows are happening outside the caves rather than in them. The venue writes:
The concerts will take place outdoors on a hillside above The Caverns cave music venue and overlooking the beautiful Payne Cove. Guests will arrive at staggered times, be asked COVID-19 screening questions, receive a temperature check, and enjoy the show from socially distanced pods. Bring your own chairs for this seated show. Masks will be mandatory, except when guests are in their pods. All concessions and merchandise will be ordered through an app and delivered contactless to your pod eliminating lines and limiting the need to leave your pod.
While the music plays on above ground, restrooms will be used inside The Caverns subterranean music venue to give guests an opportunity to duck below the surface to see the world famous underground music venue.
The space is split up into two-person, four-person, and six-person pods, with a minimum of six feet between them, and according to the venue’s FAQ, they’re assigned “on a best available basis at the time of purchase. Pod layout is subject to change to ensure we can safely socially distance all pods and create a pleasurable viewing experience.” Combining pods isn’t allowed, and everyone seated in a pod has to arrive during a designated arrival window.
For more information, visit The Caverns’ Above Ground info page.
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Must-Hear Folk Albums of 2020 So Far
Bill Callahan – Gold Record
Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – Reunions
Arlo Mckinley – Die Midwestern
Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways
Neil Young – Homegrown
In a 1975 Rolling Stone interview, Neil called his long-shelved-and-now-finally-released album Homegrown "the darker side to Harvest." With more hindsight, he called it "the missing link between Harvest, Comes a Time, Old Ways and Harvest Moon" in Jimmy McDonough's 2002 Neil Young biography Shakey. Those albums are all on Neil's folkier, more acoustic side, and Homegrown is indeed cut from that cloth. As soon as you hear the opening of "Separate Ways," you're transported right back to the warmth of the Harvest era. It's of the same proto-slowcore variety of that album's opener "Out On the Weekend," but even more haunting and melancholic. Just 30 seconds in, and Homegrown already lives up to the description Neil gave Cameron Crowe of it 45 years ago.
That same mood carries over into second track "Try," which -- like "Separate Ways" -- features The Band's Levon Helm on drums, and Levon really managed to capture the bare-bones, slow-paced drumming style that these types of quietly revolutionary Neil Young songs always demanded. "Try" is also one of two songs on Homegrown with backing vocals by Emmylou Harris (the other being "Star of Bethlehem"), and her soaring voice makes for a truly lovely contrast with Neil's more somber delivery. And as melancholic as those songs are, they've got nothing on the melancholy of the entirely-solo cuts "Mexico" (voice and piano) and "Kansas" (voice, acoustic guitar, and harmonica), or on "White Line," which features Neil, his acoustic, and his harmonica joined only by some lead guitar by The Band's Robbie Robertson. It's on those breathtaking songs where you can really hear why Neil -- coming right off the release of On The Beach -- might have felt like he was digging himself into a hole of dour, depressive music. But all these years later -- now that Neil has cemented his legacy over and over again and proven to be an artist who can evolve and adapt with the times without losing his own uniqueness -- those songs feel like buried treasure, especially for fans who gravitate towards his most hushed material. Full review here.