Dear Jason Isbell, yesterday, darkness came early here. Hiding out at the mansion with my little furry companion. Headphones, a Walkman disc player, and silver spinning discs. The soundtrack: Weathervanes, Southeastern, The Nashville Sound, Reunions. grace, beauty, sadness & fire. Burning ferris wheels dancing in my head.

It happens every year. Still it is easy to forget. The seasons change. The sun tilts. The temps edge down. The leaves turn, and then, they fall like brittle, dead, unopened letters. We mess with the clocks. As a result, daylight shrinks faster. There are a few hours of glorious sunshine, bounded by vast periods of darkness. Blackout late afternoon. Dead-dark early a.m. The darkness is deep & profound. No way around it. That’s the trend over here. Makes one “pull in their horns.” There are all those solitary pursuits. Writing. Playing guitar. Conjuring up songs. Mainlining albums from Jason Isbell; graceful, powerful, sad & inspiring; artful recordings, suffused with a burning fire of love and madness. The necessary tonic to make it, to keep the flame alive in your heart and head. Burning raw in the darkness. – Jammer