Jason Isbell falls into the bucket of my favorite songwriters. From his contributions to the Drive-By Truckers to his solo material, it’s all diamonds to me. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit release their eponymous album on February 17th with a plethora of tour dates to follow. I caught up with Jason to discuss the upcoming album, shootin’ pool, guitars, and country music.

Could you lend some information on the recording process of the Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit? Where and how was it recorded? Any lessons learned from previous recordings that you applied to this record?

The process was very natural and easy on this record. We followed a much more traditional plan when we made this one, recording for a week, then returning a month or so later to do another week. All the basic recording was done in the A room at FAME in Muscle Shoals. The songs were all new to the band when they came in, so we built them from the ground up. That’s a nice luxury to have, since the recordings stay fresh and interesting to everyone involved. There was almost no conflict between us. I have recorded songs before that everyone had already become familiar with from touring, and that works great if you don’t have much time, but it can cause the band to get burned out on the songs. Sometimes the point of diminishing returns can arrive pretty quickly if you’ve already played the songs for a few weeks or months.

I’ve read you’re a pretty decent pool player who can hold his own. Have you met any other musicians that shoot a good game? Anyone you’d like to play against?

I’m sure there are some great musician/pool players out there, but the best I’ve seen would be the late Guy Higginbotham. Guy was a sax player with Little Richard, among others, and he lived in the Muscle Shoals area. Incredible pool player, even if you had to wake him up when it was his turn. I’d love to get a chance to lose to any of the big pros, especially Xiaoting Pan. She’s very consistent, and very cute.

The internet has dramatically altered the way artists can reach an audience. With things like blogs/myspace/etc, what are your thoughts on the power of the internet in terms of helping (or hurting) your music?

I think it’s great for people like us. If you’re at the financial top tier of the business, file-sharing could have a negative effect, of course, and I don’t advocate it, but the legal sites like MySpace and Facebook can give some lesser-known artists the ability to put their music in the hands and ears of people all over the world. I think the main thing to keep in mind is that it doesn’t matter whether you have a positive or negative opinion on the changing face of the business. It’s changing either way, and it has to be embraced.

Let’s talk guitars. What was your first, your favorite, and what you’ve got your eye of for future purchase.

My first electric guitar, the one I learned to play on, was an Electra MPC Les Paul copy. It has cool, cheesy built in-effects and it weighs a ton. These days I’m very partial to the Gibson ES 335. I seem to be able to get a lot of different quality sounds out of that guitar, and it plays very comfortably. I also have a custom-built Scott Baxendale acoustic that’s pretty much perfect. I think the next thing I get will either be an old steel-bodied resonator or one of those Deusenberg electrics. Those things are super cool.

I’m working on a compiling a list of the 50 greatest country records (past to present). I think you know what I mean by country – meaning both timeless and recent – what are some records that would make your list?

I’d have to say Cash at Folsom and ‘Movin On’ by Hank Williams would vie for the “Citizen Kane” of country music, but I’m also partial to Linda Ronstadt’s ‘Heart Like A Wheel,’ ‘Mama Tried,’ by Merle Haggard, ‘Red Headed Stranger,’ ‘Witchita Lineman,’ etc.. These would have to be at the top of the list, but there are some that I love that might never make that list. I think ‘Time (the Revelator),’ by Gillian Welch is an incredible album, as is ‘Guitar Town,’ by Steve Earle, and ‘Where’d You Hide the Body,’ by James McMurtry. Actually, that last one would be in my top 5, if you can call it a country record. Absolutely devastating songwriting.

Previously: Jason Isbell :: Brand New Kind Of Actress
Previously: From The Crowd | Justin Townes Earle “Who Am I To Say”

Buy: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
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