Keep listening to good music and fighting the good fight.” I hope you enjoy listening to these recordings as much as we enjoyed making them. My favorite part of the Georgia Blue recording process was having the opportunity to work with these very special artists, and I thank them: Amanda Shires, Brittney Spencer, Adia Victoria, Brandi Carlile, Julien Baker, Bèla Fleck, Chris Thile, Steve Gorman, Peter Levin and John Paul White. The songs on this album are some of my favorite Georgia-related songs…We have roots and blues and R&B, so we enlisted some brilliant artists to help us pull off songs by Precious Bryant, James Brown and Gladys Knight. For years, I’ve been looking for an excuse to record these songs with my band and some friends. I will admit my motivations were a bit selfish. On election day 2020, when I saw that there was a good chance the state of Georgia might go blue, I came up with an idea: to record an album of Georgia-related songs as a thank you to the state and donate the money to a Georgia-based non-profit organization. Isbell shared the below note regarding Georgia Blue:
Others featured alongside the band on the album include Julien Baker, Brandi Carlile, Béla Fleck, Steve Gorman, Peter Levin, Brittney Spencer, Chris Thile, John Paul White and Adia Victoria, as well as the group’s own Amanda Shires and Sadler Vaden. Isbell proposed the idea for the album in a tweet on election day 2020, writing “If Biden wins Georgia I’m gonna make a charity covers album of my favorite Georgia songs – REM, Gladys Knight, Vic Chesnutt, Allmans, Cat Power, Precious Bryant, Now It’s Overhead, etc… And damn is that gonna be fun.” When Georgia went blue, Isbell and his bandmates fulfilled the promise by covering 13 songs that draw from musicians associated with Georgia. The Scoop: Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit are joined by an all-star cast of guest musicians on the charity album, Georgia Blue, that’s available today with proceeds going to nonprofit organizations Black Voters Matter, Fair Fight and Georgia STAND-UP. Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit – Georgia Blue Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin. This week we highlight new albums by Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, Coldplay, Zac Brown Band, Lilly Hiatt, Norah Jones, Pokey LaFarge, TK & The Holy Know Nothings, David Crosby and The Beatles. Each week Release Day Picks profiles new LPs and EPs Team JamBase will be checking out on release day Friday.