Jason Isbell is the best songwriter working in American roots music right now. That is not a casual claim and it is not offered without the awareness that there are other serious candidates. But when you look at the body of work — Southeastern, Something More Than Free, The Nashville Sound, Reunions, Weathervanes — and you sit with what those records have meant to people who needed them, the case becomes difficult to argue against. He writes about the specific and arrives at the universal. He writes about people on the edges of things and makes those people feel seen. He does not condescend and he does not romanticize. He just tells the truth, precisely, in song.
The 400 Unit — his band — makes the music feel both large and intimate. They are capable of full-band rock in one passage and then quiet enough to let Isbell’s voice carry alone in the next. Amanda Shires, his wife and an exceptional fiddle player and songwriter in her own right, has toured with the band and added another dimension to the live show.
Tanglewood in late July is the Berkshires at peak summer. The lawn fills with people who have been looking forward to this, the light goes long before it goes dark, and the sound in the natural amphitheater carries well on a clear evening. For a songwriter whose music rewards careful listening, it is a good room to be in.
Do not sleep on this one. Isbell at an outdoor venue on a summer night is the Americana show of the year in the Northeast.
Tickets & Details
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit perform Monday, July 28, 2026, at Tanglewood in Lenox, MA. Tickets are available through the Tanglewood box office.