Isbell and friends covering songs by Georgia artists, including some utterly iconic ones - "It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World", "Midnight Train to Georgia" (both sung by Brittney Spencer), "I've Been Loving You Too Long" (a bold one to take on that Isbell treats with sincerity and his own style), a celebratory rave-up version of "Cross Bones Style" sung by Amanda Shires, two R.E.M. bookends ("Nightswimming" complete with Bela Fleck on banjo and "Driver 8"), all of which work well.
My favourites are an epic version of what was already an epic song in Brandi Carlile's version of "Kid Fears", complete with backing vocals from Julien Baker (thereby bringing together probably the two most important artists of my 2021 with a big song from my pretty distant past), and Isbell's take on a yearning Vic Chesnutt song called "I'm Through" - plus probably that "Cross Bones Style" take.
It all hangs together surprisingly very well - something about the quality of the songs and of the covering artists, and maybe the way that a lot of the songs/artists being covered have seeped into the contemporary americana-plus sound of Isbell and co, so that covers in those styles end up being apt, and completing a circle of sorts.
