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Albums Of The Week: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit | Georgia Blue

The roots-rocker cuts a collection of classic covers with a little help from friends.

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE:Georgia Blue is a labor of love,” says singer-guitarist Jason Isbell of his new album, a smokin’, star-studded set of covers by everyone from R.E.M., Black Crowes and The Allman Brothers Band to James Brown, Otis Redding and Gladys Knight & The Pips. “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.

“I will admit my motivations were a bit selfish. For years, I’ve been looking for an excuse to record these songs with my band and some friends. The songs on this album are some of my favorite Georgia-related songs, but the tracklist is not meant to be comprehensive. I would love to cover Outkast and 2 Chainz, but I don’t think the finished product would be very good. We’re a rock band, so we covered rock songs. We have roots in blues and R&B, so we enlisted some brilliant artists to help us pull off songs by Precious Bryant, James Brown and Gladys Knight.

“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, Béla Fleck, Chris Thile, Steve Gorman, Peter Levin and John Paul White. I hope you enjoy listening to these recordings as much as we enjoyed making them. Keep listening to good music and fighting the good fight.”

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