-Austin City Limits presents
a powerful singer/songwriter at the peak of his craft,
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.
-♪ She used to make me feel like the king of Oklahoma ♪
♪ But nothing makes me feel like much of nothing anymore ♪
♪ You know that there'd be hell to pay ♪
♪ If you're mama was alive today ♪
♪ This ain't it, baby ♪
♪♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Recorded live from The Moody Theater,
it's "Austin City Limits."
-Now one of the preeminent singer/songwriters of our time,
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.
♪♪
-♪ I left my wallet in the hotel room ♪
♪ They barely let me on the plane ♪
♪ I didn't get a chance to check the news ♪
♪ Somebody shot up a classroom again ♪
♪♪
♪ And when you said the cops just let 'em die ♪
♪ I heard the shaking in your voice ♪
♪ And for a moment, you began to cry ♪
♪ Then I heard you make a choice ♪
♪♪
♪ We can find a time to fall apart ♪
♪ Say the names of all the dead ♪
♪ I'm still dreaming in my heart of hearts ♪
♪ But something's changing in my head ♪
♪ Swear you'll save the world when I lose my grip ♪
♪ Tell me you're in control ♪
♪ Swear you'll say the word when I start to slip ♪
♪ 'Cause you'll be the first to know ♪
♪♪
♪ Balloon popping at the grocery store ♪
♪ My heart jumping in my chest ♪
♪ I look around to find the exit door ♪
♪ Which way out of here's the best ♪
♪♪
♪ The kid's looking through the candy aisle ♪
♪ School's starting in a week ♪
♪ A lady says, "You have a lovely child" ♪
♪ I'm too terrified to speak ♪
♪♪
♪ Can we keep her here at home instead ♪
♪ And can we teach her how to fight? ♪
♪ Something's changing inside my head ♪
♪ Something's drowning out the light ♪
♪♪
♪ Swear you'll save the world when I lose my grip ♪
♪ Tell me you're in control ♪
♪ Swear you'll say the word when I start to slip ♪
♪ 'Cause you'll be the first to know ♪
♪♪
♪ Swear you'll save the world when I lose my grip ♪
♪ Tell me you're in control ♪
♪ Swear you'll say the word when I start to slip ♪
♪ 'Cause you'll be the first to know ♪
♪ Swear you'll save the world when I lose my grip ♪
♪ Tell me you're in control ♪
♪ Swear you'll say the word when I start to slip ♪
♪ 'Cause you'll be the first to know ♪
♪♪
[ Song ends ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
♪ We'll take the copper from the work site
♪ Meet me there at midnight ♪
♪ They ain't got a camera or a guard ♪
♪ Write my own prescription ♪
♪ If I can't get a fix, son ♪
♪ ...about to get real hard ♪
♪ Molly's gonna leave me ♪
♪ Says she don't believe me ♪
♪ The kids won't even know my name ♪
♪ Put a gallon in the step side ♪
♪ With a little help, by morning ♪
♪ I won't feel no pain ♪
♪♪
♪ Well, I'd never thought I'd wind up this far behind ♪
♪ Just a couple years back, we had it made ♪
♪ I was emptying my bladder on a 20-foot ladder ♪
♪ Shoulda climbed down and found myself some shade ♪
♪ Doctor took a quick look, and I got out the checkbook ♪
♪ And left with a pocket full of pills ♪
♪ Now my back's still hurtin', and I'm too weak for workin' ♪
♪ And I can't keep up with all the bills ♪
♪ She used to wake me up with coffee every morning ♪
♪ And I'd hear her homemade house shoes ♪
♪ Slide across the floor ♪
♪ She used to make me feel like the king of Oklahoma ♪
♪ But nothing makes me feel like much of nothing anymore ♪
♪♪
♪ I was all set up to do it, but some bastard beat me to it ♪
♪ Ain't a copper pipe left on the lot ♪
♪ Got a loan out on the truck, but I'm runnin' out of luck ♪
♪ And the title is the only thing I've got ♪
♪ Molly's gonna leave me ♪
♪ Says she don't believe me ♪
♪ I got nothing left to lie about ♪
♪ She's going back to Bixby ♪
♪ Tired of trying to fix me ♪
♪ Says I got some... to figure out ♪
♪ She used to wake me up with coffee ever morning ♪
♪ And I'd hear her homemade house shoes ♪
♪ Slide across the floor ♪
♪ She used to make me feel like the king of Oklahoma ♪
♪ But nothing makes me feel like much of nothing anymore ♪
♪ She used to wake me up with coffee ever morning ♪
♪ And I'd act like I was sleepin' ♪
♪ Till she'd walk back through the door ♪
♪ She used to make me feel like the king of Oklahoma ♪
♪ But nothing makes me feel like much of nothing anymore ♪
♪♪
[ Song ends ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Thank you so much.
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Applause continues ]
♪♪
♪ There's a warm wind blowing through the laundry mat
♪ There's a young man cryin' in a cowboy hat ♪
♪ He's got square toed boots so he ain't for real ♪
♪ Wouldn't last five minutes on a pedal steel ♪
♪ And I remember you at that place in Post ♪
♪ You were thick cut bacon on Texas toast ♪
♪ Prairie dogs popping up to see ♪
♪ That strawberry woman sitting next to me ♪
♪ Strawberry woman sitting next to me ♪
♪ Monday mornin' wake up slow ♪
♪ It was Friday night two hours ago ♪
♪ And I'd sell the farm to see you smile ♪
♪ Well, it might just happen if we wait a while ♪
♪ I may go stay out in the woods ♪
♪ Some time apart could do us good ♪
♪ And I've been to Heaven in a Sixth Street bar ♪
♪ Strawberry woman and an old guitar ♪
♪♪
♪ Well, the highway's straight, and the night's so still ♪
♪ You barely have to touch the wheel ♪
♪ But it hurts to move, and it hurts to learn ♪
♪ So I just kept on going when I made a wrong turn ♪
♪ But I remember you looking up at me ♪
♪ Drinking Irish whiskey on the Irish Sea ♪
♪ And we walked through the weather ♪
♪ And we walked through time ♪
♪ Strawberry woman with her hand in mine ♪
♪♪
♪ I remember you when the bar was closed ♪
♪ You were dancing on the table with a bloody nose ♪
♪ And you still looked fine, you still looked free ♪
♪ Strawberry woman with your back to me ♪
♪♪
[ Song ends ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
This is a good time. I sure do love doing this show.
Been watching it since I was a little kid.
Still we send each other clips from "Austin City Limits"
all the time.
"Have you seen this one, have you seen this one?
Well, have you seen this one?"
It feels really good to be up here making one of your own.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
♪ Well, I've tried ♪
♪ To open up my window ♪
♪ And let the light come in ♪
♪ I step outside ♪
♪ In the middle of the morning and in the evening again ♪
♪ Yes, I've tried ♪
♪ To be grateful for my devils ♪
♪ And call them by their names ♪
♪ But I'm tired ♪
♪ And by the middle of the morning ♪
♪ I need someone to blame ♪
♪ I know you're scared of me ♪
♪ I can see it in your face ♪
♪ And I can feel it in the way you move around this place ♪
♪ I know you're scared of me ♪
♪ I can see it in your smile ♪
♪ Like an unattended child you can't quite trust ♪
♪♪
♪ But I'm tired ♪
♪ Of always stepping on your shadow ♪
♪ And feeling in the way ♪
♪ Yes, I'm tired ♪
♪ And by the middle of the morning ♪
♪ I'm out of...to say ♪
♪ 'Cause I ain't used to this ♪
♪ Seeing everybody's hand ♪
♪ I was raised to be a strong and silent Southern man ♪
♪ No, I ain't used to this ♪
♪ A thousand days alone ♪
♪ In my bed or in my head or in my phone ♪
♪♪
♪ Yes, I'm tired ♪
♪ Of living in the moment ♪
♪ And sleeping through the dream ♪
♪ I step outside ♪
♪ In the middle of the morning ♪
♪ And the roses hear the scream ♪
♪♪
♪ I know you're scared of me ♪
♪ So I never get too close ♪
♪ I just sit here on the tailgate ♪
♪ Like a farm hand's ghost ♪
♪ I watch the roses bloom ♪
♪ I watch them wilt away and die ♪
♪ Until I notice I've been crying this whole time ♪
♪ Well, I've tried ♪
♪ To open up my window and let the light come in ♪
♪ I step outside ♪
♪ In the middle of the morning ♪
♪ And in the evening again ♪
♪♪
[ Song ends ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
♪ This used to be a ghost town
♪ But even the ghosts got out ♪
♪ And the sound of the highway died ♪
♪ There's ashes in the swimming pool ♪
♪ I saw you on your wedding night ♪
♪ And I watched you sleeping in my arms ♪
♪ You didn't wash your make-up off ♪
♪ So you woke up looking scared as hell ♪
♪ My love won't change ♪
♪ My love won't change a thing ♪
♪ You're never coming back to me ♪
♪ You're never coming back at all ♪
♪ And the waiter made a young girl cry ♪
♪ At the table next to mine tonight ♪
♪ And I know you would have brought him to his knees ♪
♪ But you're overseas ♪
♪♪
♪ Doesn't seem so long ago ♪
♪ When we thought that we could change their minds ♪
♪ We'd stay here and fight it out ♪
♪ With a love that we could weaponize ♪
♪ But I saw you losing faith ♪
♪ And I was watching when the light went out ♪
♪ You know what revolution means ♪
♪ And you know it's not an option now ♪
♪ 'Cause our love won't change ♪
♪ Our love won't change ♪
♪ Our love won't change a thing ♪
♪ And I couldn't leave my father here ♪
♪ Just to finish up his life alone ♪
♪ And I saw you in our daughter's eyes last night ♪
♪ When she caught me in a lie ♪
♪ And I need you here to make both of us believe ♪
♪ But you're overseas ♪
♪♪
♪ Does your heart rest easy where you are? ♪
♪ And do they treat you like a star? ♪
♪ Or do they call you refugee? ♪
♪♪
♪ From overseas ♪
♪♪
[ Song ends ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
♪ Don't wash the cast iron skillet ♪
♪ Don't drink and drive, you'll spill it ♪
♪ Don't ask too many questions or you'll never get to sleep ♪
♪ There's a hole inside you, fill it ♪
♪ Shower up and shave ♪
♪ Put flowers on the grave ♪
♪ And ask the Lord to save your soul ♪
♪ Although you know that it's too late ♪
♪ Was it 27 times, or was it 29? ♪
♪ I heard the blade broke off inside the man ♪
♪ And he took a while to die ♪
♪ How did you get so low? ♪
♪ It seems like just a week ago ♪
♪ We were 10 and 12 years old ♪
♪ And he was sweet and soft ♪
♪ You shied away from the inside fastballs ♪
♪ And died doing life without parole ♪
♪ Don't wash the cast iron skillet ♪
♪ That dog bites my kid, I'll kill it ♪
♪ Don't walk where you can't see your feet ♪
♪ Don't ask questions, just believe it ♪
♪ Jamie found a boyfriend ♪
♪ With smiling eyes and dark skin ♪
♪ And her daddy never spoke another word to her again ♪
♪ The old man at the Quickstop ♪
♪ Lying to the county cops ♪
♪ And laughing like his soul was without sin ♪
♪ Tell me how'd you get so low? ♪
♪ It seems like just a week ago ♪
♪ She was sitting on your shoulders ♪
♪ Watching fireworks in the sky ♪
♪ He treats her like a queen ♪
♪ But you don't know 'cause you ain't seen ♪
♪ It's hard to go through life ♪
♪ Without your daddy by your side ♪
♪ Don't wash the cast iron skillet ♪
♪ This town won't get no better, will it? ♪
♪ She found love, and it was simple as a weather vane ♪
♪ But her own family tried to kill it ♪
♪ Don't wash the cast iron skillet ♪
♪ Don't wash the cast iron ♪
[ Song ends ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
♪ From the sky we look so organized and brave ♪
♪ Walls that make up barricades and graves ♪
♪ Daddy's little empire built by hand and built by slaves ♪
♪ From the sky we look so organized and brave ♪
♪♪
♪ In the heat, I saw you rising from the dirt ♪
♪ Drunk in tears and tugging at your skirt ♪
♪ If only you could tell me then what part of you got hurt ♪
♪ In the heat, I saw you rising from the dirt ♪
♪ Take my hand, baby, we're over land ♪
♪ I know flying over water makes you cry ♪
♪ Where's that liquor cart? ♪
♪ Maybe we shouldn't start ♪
♪ But I can't for the life of me say why ♪
♪♪
♪ From the sky, the highway's straight as it could be ♪
♪ A string pulled tight from home to Tennessee ♪
♪ And still somehow those ditches ♪
♪ Took the better part of me ♪
♪ From the sky, the highway's straight as it could be ♪
♪♪
♪ Take my hand, baby, we're over land ♪
♪ I know flying over water makes you cry ♪
♪ We been in the sky so long ♪
♪ It seems like the long way home ♪
♪ But I can't for the life of me say why ♪
♪ Did we leave our love behind? ♪
♪♪
♪ Take my hand, baby, we're over land ♪
♪ I know flying over water makes you cry ♪
♪ We been in the sky so long ♪
♪ It seems like the long way home ♪
♪ But I can't for the life of me say why ♪
♪ Did we leave our love behind? ♪
♪♪
[ Song ends ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Applause continues ]
♪♪
♪ Coming home early, catching on late ♪
♪ I guess I had too much on my plate ♪
♪ I wish it was as simple as somebody done somebody wrong ♪
♪ But I'm coming home early, catching on late ♪
♪ There's miles between us ♪
♪ But boy, you should've seen us when we met ♪
♪♪
♪ I loved your anger ♪
♪ And the way you'd catch a stranger in your net ♪
♪♪
♪ She'll be driving in the fall ♪
♪ And we'll sit up waiting on the call ♪
♪ As she leaves, I'll tell her don't get hurt ♪
♪ And don't get pregnant ♪
♪ But she won't acknowledge me at all ♪
♪ There's miles between us ♪
♪ But boy, you should've seen us ♪
♪ She was scared to let go of my hand ♪
♪ In a tiny carnival, she said ♪
♪ "Daddy, is this just like Disneyland?" ♪
♪♪
♪ "Yes, it's just like Disneyland" ♪
♪♪
♪ In the name of survival, we get used to this ♪
♪♪
♪ In the name of forgiveness, we get bored ♪
♪♪
♪ For our own entertainment, we ball up our fists ♪
♪♪
♪ We take it out on the kid at the grocery store ♪
♪♪
♪ In the name of desire, we burn everything ♪
♪♪
♪ In the name of redemption, buy it back ♪
♪♪
♪ For our own entertainment, clip each other's wings ♪
♪♪
♪ And take it out on the kids when we can't keep track ♪
♪♪
♪ In the name of survival, we get used to this ♪
♪♪
♪ In the name of forgiveness, we get bored ♪
♪♪
♪ In the name of survival, we get used to this ♪
♪♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
♪ There's miles between us ♪
♪ But boy, you should've seen us in the good old days ♪
♪♪
♪ It was just like Disneyland ♪
♪ You didn't even see the hand that turned the page ♪
♪♪
♪ The hand that turned the page ♪
♪♪
[ Song ends ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Applause continues ]
♪♪
♪ Baby, how'd you end up here ♪
♪ In a Texas town in a wedding gown ♪
♪ With a near beer? ♪
♪♪
♪ Baby, how'd it go so wrong ♪
♪ And you don't belong? ♪
♪ But I bet they all think you're sincere ♪
♪♪
♪ I've known you since your eyes were blue ♪
♪ And I'd die before I'd lie to you ♪
♪ And this ain't it, baby ♪
♪ This ain't it, baby ♪
♪ Lord knows I like to roll the dice ♪
♪ And I don't give the best advice ♪
♪ Well, this ain't it, baby ♪
♪ This ain't it, baby ♪
♪ Remember when you fell so hard ♪
♪ You were 17, he was a libertine ♪
♪ With a black car ♪
♪♪
♪ Remember how it...you up ♪
♪ You were acting tough ♪
♪ Had a fake ID in the Crow Bar ♪
♪ I've known you for your whole damn life ♪
♪ You're more than just some rich man's wife ♪
♪ And this ain't it, baby ♪
♪ This ain't it, baby ♪
♪ You know that there'd be hell to pay ♪
♪ If your mama was alive today ♪
♪ And this ain't it, baby ♪
♪ This ain't it, baby ♪
♪♪
♪ Baby, let me take you home ♪
♪ You'll love the place, I got extra space ♪
♪ And I stay gone ♪
♪♪
♪ Tell him what's on your heart ♪
♪ And the hardest part ♪
♪ Will be looking away from his cellphone ♪
♪♪
♪ But I ain't always been around ♪
♪ I build you up and let you down ♪
♪ But this ain't it, baby ♪
♪ This ain't it, baby ♪
♪ I've known you since your eyes were blue ♪
♪ And I'd die before I'd lie to you ♪
♪ But this ain't it, baby ♪
♪ This ain't it, baby ♪
♪♪
♪ Baby, how'd you end up here? ♪
♪♪
♪ Oh, baby, how'd you end up here? ♪
♪♪
♪ Oh, baby, how'd you end up here? ♪
♪♪
[ Song ends ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Applause continues ]
I don't have to worry about what am I gonna write about.
Like, to me, that's the least important part of the song.
The thing that you're writing about
is the human experience every time.
I'm at my best is when I'm at my most honest.
So if I write something and I feel like, you know,
this is making me feel a little uncomfortable,
it has to stay in.
That's just a rule.
Because that's how I keep pushing myself forward
creatively and, you know, how I'm able to
keep myself from making the same records over and over.
-♪ She used to wake me up with coffee every morning ♪
♪ And I'd hear her homemade house shoes ♪
♪ Slide across the floor ♪
♪ She used to make me feel like the king of Oklahoma ♪
♪ But nothing makes me feel like much of nothing anymore ♪
♪♪