Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit w/ Ben Nichols

The Read

Ben Nichols fronts Lucero, and stripped of the band his songs get rawer rather than gentler — the gravel in the voice stops being a texture and starts being the point. Putting him in front of Isbell is a pointed piece of booking: both write about the South without romanticizing it, but Nichols gets there through wreckage and Isbell through inventory. This is the start of the second week of the stand, which in past runs is where the setlists loosen. The obligations have been discharged; what remains is the material the band actually wants to play. The 400 Unit are precise enough to make the loud songs land and restrained enough to leave the quiet ones alone.

The Room

Ryman Auditorium

116 5th Ave N

Built in 1892 as a tabernacle by river captain Thomas Ryman, who was converted at a Sam Jones revival — little did he know it would become the church of American roots music.