An Interview We Enjoy

We at WSS are big fans of Jason Isbell (it's quite obvious in some of our other posts as well).  Besides his music, Isbell is a great interviewee.  Recently, GQ did a piece where renowned author George Saunders (Lincoln In The Bardo, Tenth of December) interviewed Isbell out in Oakland California. 

It was an interview that lasted for 56 minutes, and every minute contained wonder after wonder.  Some of our favorite quotes are below, and they all have to do with why we love working with musicians. 

Quote #1

George says of ambition: "If you have it, you're either going to spend a lot of time denying, suppressing or saying 'alright, I accept you.  Let's go have some fun together'." 

We’re not Isbell or Saunders, we fully realize this. However, what we do have is this burning desire to help partner with people to create music. We want to strengthen our community with high-quality songwriting. We feel we have that ambition - it’s buried inside of somewhere just begging to get out. We accept that offer and the challenge, and we believe we’re better off for it.

Quote #2

Jason says: “The muse likes to find you working.”

What perfection. This is why he’s the writer that he is. This is why his craft is to where it is at this point in his career (multiple Grammy and Americana awards). It’s taken him years, it’s taken him his battles, but that ‘muse’ never stood stagnant by itself. The point? If you have something you’re obsessing over, work for it. Chase down that dream.

Quote #3

Jason says “What can I do to fill back up the extra water that I took?”

He fully realizes he’s been blessed. This isn’t completely by chance, but he knows many others don’t have the same things he has (skills, possessions, etc). However, there is an underlying thought of putting back in what he has taken out. We love that. It’s an unselfish approach to where he is in his career and, we think, why so many enjoy him (on top of his already tremendous skill set).

There were many more amazing moments this interview provided. Instead of us rattling off even more of the things that we liked, why don’t you take a look/listen and draw your own conclusions?