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Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit Win Best Americana Album | 2018 GRAMMYs
Just as he did at the 58th GRAMMY Awards two years earlier with his album Something More Than Free, Jason Isbell won both Best Americana Album and Best American Roots Song at the 60th GRAMMY Awards. The former award also went to his band, The 400 Unit, for their efforts on their critically-acclaimed album, The Nashville Sound.
Coming off his time in alt-country rock ramblers Drive-By Truckers, Isbell's latest GRAMMY wins beef up his already wildly successful solo career. His breakout 2013 album Southeastern showed his chops as a true songwriter's songwriter, and he followed it up with the aforementioned 2015 GRAMMY-winning album, Something More Than Free, which also won Best Americana Album as well as Best American Roots Song for "24 Frames."
The Nashville Sound not only solidified Isbell as one of today's finest songwriters, but name checked and showcased his remarkable band, which includes his talented wife, Amanda Shires, on violin — a successful singer/songwriter in her own right. The couple's romantic and musical compatibility is on full display in the painful and stunning "If We Were Vampires," which also earned Isbell a GRAMMY as a songwriter for Best American Roots Song. All in all, a very big night for Isbell, his band, and the genre he so succinctly represents.
The road to the top was extra daunting this year, considering the other nominees in the category were Gregg Allman's Southern Blood, Brent Cobb's Shine On Rainy Day, Iron & Wine's Beast Epic, and the Mavericks' Brand New Day. The quality and diversity of this crop of nominees is a testiment to what Americana music can represent, include, and accomplish at its finest through authentic, crafty songwriting, and a sound with one foot in the American roots tradition and one foot stepping forward.
