Jason Isbell plays home DJ for SiriusXM’s ‘Inside Outlaws’

GRAMMY-winning Americana songwriter and bandleader Jason Isbell is this week’s guest host of SiriusXM’s Home DJ Series Inside Outlaws.

Celebrating the release of his new album Reunions (with his group The 400 Unit), the takeover special premieres Friday, May 15 at 8pm ET on Outlaw Country (Ch. 60), as the Muscle Shoals-born artist hosts a four-hour shift from the Nashville home he shares with fellow singer-songwriter Amanda Shires and their daughter Mercy Rose.

Listeners will hear stories behind some of the tracks from Reunions, which Isbell decided to release despite the current global pandemic.

“It’s a strange time to put out a record because we can’t go out and tour behind it, but I like for things to be current. I like an album to be a record of events, a document of where my life was,” Isbell said. “I didn’t choose to postpone the release of this record, I went in and put it out smack dab in the middle of isolation and quarantine.”

Isbell also shares his personal connection to hand-picked tracks from some of his favorite artists, including Son Volt, Bottle Rockets, Todd Snider, and Gillian Welch, as well as some of his formative experiences as a member of the Drive-By Truckers.

“I joined when I was 21 years old and played with them for about six years, until I did the impossible and drank more than anyone else in the band and wound up getting kicked out on my ass,” Isbell recalls. “But I look back very fondly on the time that I spent with those guys. I’m still close with them, I still listen to their music. I love it.”

Early influences including Willie Nelson and the Rolling Stones are also included on the Isbell playlist, as well as a touching tribute to his late friend and mentor John Prine, who died last month of complications from Covid-19.

Other recent hosts of the Inside Outlaws series include Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke, Lucinda Williams, and Logan Ledger.

Created and executive produced by Steven Van Zandt, Outlaw Country plays country icons and rebel rockers like Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, Tyler Childers, and Blackberry Smoke, and features shows hosted by Steve Earle, Shooter Jennings, Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale, Mojo Nixon, Elizabeth Cook, Johnny Knoxville & Roger Alan Wade, Hillbilly Jim, Alamo Jones, Paula Nelson, and Dallas Wayne.

Don’t miss replays of Inside Outlaws on Saturday, May 16 at 8am ET; and Sunday, May 17 at 12am and 12p ET. Stream Outlaw Country for free now until Friday, May 31.

Watch Jason Isbell’s previous exclusive SiriusXM performances below.

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – “24 Frames”

Jason Isbell – “Elephant”