Something More Than Free

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Something More Than Free
Somethingmorejasonisbell.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedJuly 17, 2015
RecordedMarch 2015
Studio Sound Emporium (Nashville, Tennessee)
Genre Americana, alternative country
Length43:55
Label Southeastern
Producer Dave Cobb
Jason Isbell chronology
Southeastern
(2013)
Something More Than Free
(2015)
The Nashville Sound
(2017)

Something More Than Free is the fifth studio album by Jason Isbell, released on July 17, 2015. It was produced by Dave Cobb, who had produced Isbell's previous record, Southeastern (2013). [1] At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, the album won the award for Best Americana Album, and the song "24 Frames" won the award for Best American Roots Song. [2]

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.2/10 [3]
Metacritic 87/100 [4]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [5]
The A.V. Club A− [6]
The Daily Telegraph Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [7]
Entertainment Weekly A [8]
The Irish Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [9]
Mojo Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [10]
Pitchfork 5.8/10 [11]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [12]
Spin 7/10 [13]
Vice A− [14]

The album received mostly positive reviews. [15] On Metacritic, it has a score of 87 out of 100 based on 25 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". [4]

Jon Freeman of Nash Country Weekly gave the album a grade of "A" and wrote that "Jason Isbell has a reporter's eye for detail and a poet's gift for a beautifully crafted turn of phrase". He went on to say that "Jason's throaty rasp, not unlike Tyler Farr's, is the ideal vehicle for those stories [...] It may not be all pretty, but Something More Than Free is as real as it gets." [16] Craig Manning of AbsolutePunk praised the album, writing: "Like Southeastern, Something More Than Free is a masterwork, and while I'm not sure if I quite agree with Isbell that it's better than Southeastern, it certainly offers a different (but equally satisfying) experience." [17] In another positive review that compared the album to its predecessor, Eric Swedlund of The A.V. Club wrote that, "though Something More Than Free may not repeat Isbell's album-of-the-year accolades, it continues the magic of that breakthrough LP". [6]

Jeremy Winograd of Slant Magazine wrote, in an otherwise positive review, that Something More Than Free "retains Southeastern's intimate acoustic-based feel and heavyhearted lyrical matter, but it's even more smooth-edged and lacks the emotional gut-punches of its predecessor." [18] In a mixed review, Stephen Deusner of Pitchfork described Something More Than Free as "an album that contains too few surprises", and said that "the music does little to distinguish these characters or enliven the lyrics". [11]

Accolades

PublicationYearAccoladeRank
Stereogum 2015The 50 Best Albums of 201531 [19]
Nashville Scene 201516th Annual Country Music Critics' Poll2 [20]
Rolling Stone 201540 Best Country Albums of 20151 [21]

Commercial performance

In the United States, the album debuted at number 6 on the Billboard 200, and at number 1 on Billboard's Top Rock Albums, Folk Albums, and Top Country Albums charts, [22] [23] with 46,000 units sold. [24] Although he had previously had critical success in the Americana genre, this was the first time one of Isbell's albums had performed so well on the charts across several genres. [25] As of July 2016, the album had sold 143,000 copies in the U.S. [26]

The single "24 Frames" peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Triple A Airplay chart, [27] and at number 42 on the Rock Airplay chart. [28]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Jason Isbell

No.TitleLength
1."If It Takes a Lifetime"3:43
2."24 Frames"3:16
3."Flagship"3:52
4."How to Forget"4:06
5."Children of Children"5:52
6."The Life You Chose"4:05
7."Something More Than Free"3:33
8."Speed Trap Town"4:04
9."Hudson Commodore"3:26
10."Palmetto Rose"4:06
11."To a Band That I Loved"3:52

Personnel

Charts

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