The Alabama songwriter’s signature ballad was released a decade ago on Isbell’s breakout album Southeastern
Jason Isbell released his breakout album Southeastern in 2013. This year, he celebrated the LP’s 10th anniversary with the release of a well-curated box set of demos, a live recording, and the original album — with a new cover, depicting Isbell 10 years older.
During Tuesday night’s Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Isbell and the 400 Unit performed Southeastern’s centerpiece, the stirring ballad “Cover Me Up,” a tale of sobriety, redemption, and undying love. As he’s done for a decade now, the Alabama songwriter began the song solo on acoustic guitar, bellowing lines about those “days when we raged” before 400 Unit guitarist Sadler Vaden comes in with some sweet slide guitar on his Gibson SG. The rest of the band join in behind him, with drummer Chad Gamble and new member Will Johnson banging away on floor toms.
Isbell, who appears in a small role in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, also performed “King of Oklahoma” on Colbert, off his Grammy-nominated album Weathervanes. Written while Isbell was filming with Scorsese in Oklahoma, the song has been heralded as one of the record’s best, alongside the parable “Cast Iron Skillet,” which made Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2023.
Along with Johnson, Isbell’s band now includes bassist Anna Butterss in the lineup following the departure of original 400 Unit member Jimbo Hart. Isbell and the 400 Unit are off the road for the remainder of the year but resume touring in January, including a few arena shows with Turnpike Troubadours. He’ll also play some stadium gigs in 2024, opening for Zach Bryan.