- Dan.

- Can you name some of your musical influences?

- They're exactly what you would expect, you know.

I love Randy Newman.

- Well, I wouldn't have expected- Randy Newman.

- No, really?

(group laughing) - No.

- I mean, he's great, but- - You know, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell.

Oh gosh, what else?

Yeah, I mean, just all the songwriters that you have to say when you get asked that question.

- But you actually believe it.

- But yeah, I mean, you really, you have to study that stuff.

- Yeah.

- You know, you have to.

It's kind of like trying to paint without studying the Dutch Masters.

You just can't really get away with it, unless you're coming from somewhere (inhales) way outta left field.

I'm trying to think of one that might be surprising to you though.

When I was a kid, I loved Def Leppard.

(group laughing) - Well, that is surprising.

- So maybe somewhere in there you'll hear that coming through in this song.

(group laughing) - On the Dylan thing.

- Yeah.

- I love the movie, with Timothee Chalamet.

I thought it was terrific.

- Yeah.

- That's a controversial take.

- It is, yeah.

- Did you like it?

- I didn't watch it.

- Did not see it.

- No.

(group laughing) - But listening to Dylan as a consequence of that, I was amazed at how his stuff holds up.

- Oh, yeah.

- Like really holds up.

- Oh, those songs are incredible.

- Yeah.

- I saw somebody the other day on the internet covering one of the like deep cuts (inhales) and I thought, man, if that guy that's sitting there playing that song had written it- - Yeah.

- Everybody would lose their mind.

But we just accept- - We just accept.

- That those songs are that good.

- Right.

- If you turned on the radio now- - Right.

- And heard Tangled Up In Blue and had- - Right.

- Never heard that before, you would pull over- - Right.

(group laughing) - And call the station.

Like, what is this?

- It's the greatest thing- - Yeah.

- I've ever heard.

- Well, even Bob Dylan's 50th song, like the 50 worst- - Oh yeah.

- It is still better than almost- everything else.

- Yeah, yeah.

- No kidding, yeah.

- As it happens.

- Yeah, but there's some junk too.

(group laughing) I mean he, well I'm not, his 500th song sucks!

- You think so?

(group laughing) - Yeah.

- That's why I said 50.

- (laughs) Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

- I'm staying in the realm of not sucked.

Okay, yes, go ahead.

- Hey Jason, I was curious if you could talk about your experience working on Killers of the Flower Moon, what it was like- - Yeah.

- Being on a Scorsese set.

- Yeah, you've done some acting.

We didn't talk- - A little bit.

- That's right.

- A little bit.

- [Person In Cap] Yeah, I'm curious how creatively fulfilling and inspiring was that compared to, say, your musician job and do you see yourself acting again in the future?

- Thank you.

That's a good question.

I was very scared.

- Yeah.

- Which was a good thing for me, you know, because I did not know what I was doing.

And there were people there who had lots of Oscars and things and so, I was kind of like, you know.

- Yeah.

- Don't let me mess this up, you know, and tell me how to act.

- [Interviewer] And I how did it happen that you came to be on- that film?

- I auditioned for that and went through like three rounds of auditioning.

'Cause it was during lockdown and I couldn't tour, (inhales) you know, so I just asked my agent, can you go across the hall and knock on the movie people's door, and see if there's any work that I could do over there?

(inhales) But the thing that I took away more than anything else, first of all, the story, you know, the importance, the significance of that story historically and how difficult and brutal it was to just tell the truth in that situation.

But also watching Scorsese, the way he allowed collaboration, but still had a overall vision.

'Cause I thought, I'm gonna get there and either he's gonna be a task master or he's not gonna be around and I'm never gonna see him.

And it was just the perfect middle ground because, you know, there was even one scene where I kind of, after being there for a while, I thought, eh, this, this might be okay.

And I just like tapped him on the shoulder and I was like, hey, I think I should do this.

And he was like, "Let's shoot it."

And we spent hours moving everything around and shooting.

- Wow.

- My suggestion had it made it in the movie.

And, (inhales) you know, but at the same time, everybody knows, you know, he's the governor.

So, it's like- (hand tapping) - Yeah.

- What he says goes, and the power of the veto can go a long way.

'Cause he gave everybody the opportunity, you know, to be creative and feel like they were contributing.

And I think that motivated them to work harder.

- I like that, the power of the veto goes a long way.

- It goes a long way.

But you watch the movie- - Good.

- And you know, you're watching a Scorsese movie- - Just like that.

- Every time, you know.

- Hi, how you doing?

- Hi, thank you.

Never had the opportunity to ask a singer songwriter this question.

I'm a visual artist and I'll see a snapshot of something that will elicit me to write things down, a story or a poem.

Do you as a singer songwriter, besides introspection, personal experiences, do you ever see an image of something, a landscape or whatever, just that quick image that elicits in you a whole, a song, a line?

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

Constantly.

- Okay.

- Yeah, I'm just taking notes all the time.

I mean, some of the things that I have written in songs have been just directly overheard from somebody sitting next to me at the airport.

- But is it ever a visual?

- Is that right?

(group laughing) - Yeah!

- Really!

- Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

And yeah, definitely, sometimes.

I mean, it's like, you know, like Leonard Cohen, when they put in the- - Who?

- When they put in the phone lines on Hydra, and those power lines, when they first brought electricity to all the houses on the Island of Hydra in Greece.

And he looks out the window and there's the power line, there's a bird sitting on it, you know, and he writes down a, Bird on a Wire.

I mean, yes.

- Okay.

- The answer is always, I'll take it any way I can get it.

(group laughing) - [Visual Artist] I got you, yeah- thank you.

- And the less I explain, the more people think it's some kind of magic, but it's really- (group laughing) - It's not.

- Me just looking around going, okay, what can I write a song- about today?

- Yeah.

- It's an actual bird on an actual wire.

- It is a real bird on a real wire.

And the beauty of it, the magic of it was what he made out of that.

But yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Yeah.

- It's all over the place for sure.

- Good, all right.

- Hi, thank you for your time.

Bruce Springsteen just announced he has something like seven lost albums that are coming out this summer.

I'm curious if you have a vault, maybe not seven lost albums but- - Yeah.

- Yeah.

- A vault of unreleased or unfinished songs that we can expect to hear in- 10 or 20 years.

- I have a whole vault of Bruce Springsteen.

(group laughing) - That's where they went!

- Yeah!

- That's why they were lost.

- Yeah.

- You had them!

- He found them.

(group laughing) I mailed them to him from a post office box.

- I love that.

- No, I do have some stuff.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I don't go back.

Like if I'm making a record, I will write a new record and record it and release it.

And usually there's two or three songs left over.

But most of the time if I finish a song, I'll record it and usually- - Yeah.

- It'll wind up on a record.

- Well, I wondered about this record, particularly.

Did you write more songs than you used?

- I did, but only about two or three.

- Yeah.

- That's always the case with me.

So like, you know, at the end of 10 records, I'll have like one album of (inhales), but then, I mean, my tastes don't change enough over time.

I think, well, if it didn't work for that record, then it's probably not gonna work for this one either, you know?

And maybe I guess when I'm dead, maybe all that stuff will come out.

(group laughing) 'Cause then I won't have to handle everybody judging it, you know?

(group laughing) - Good.

Thank you.

- Hi.

- Hi.

- Hi Jason.

How old were you when you began to realize there were problems with the South and how did you avoid getting pulled into the culture of the day, rebel against it, write against it, and continue to this day to sort of be on the front lines of articulating, you know, a better vision.

- Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

That first question is a good question.

You know, I was fortunate to be raised by people who weren't hateful.

And that I think did everything for me, gave me that kind of perspective, you know, and they didn't prejudge people based on skin color or sexual preference or, you know, they just weren't hateful people.

And for some reason, like, you know, I still, my parents didn't vote for Trump.

I can call my dad and just talk to 'em, it's great.

And I have so many friends who are like, "Yeah, I don't really talk to my parents anymore."

I'm like they voted for Trump, didn't they?

And they're like, "Yeah."

(group laughing) Yeah, and I just got lucky there.

As far as like starting to recognize that there were issues, it was really early.

Like I don't remember not knowing that, just because I saw it firsthand.

I mean, even in the eighties in Alabama, you know, it wasn't the eighties like it was everywhere else.

I mean, I'm sure here in Texas, you get a little bit outside of Austin and you go back in time in a lot ways (inhales).

And I think I was just taught by my parents and my grandparents and my aunts and uncle to care about other people, you know?

And if you do that and you pay attention, you're gonna notice those kinds of things.

But I do feel like I got very, very, very lucky because, you know, we didn't have that sort of fear that drives you to blame somebody that you don't know, you know, for problems when you might actually be getting conned by people that you see every day, you know?

Yeah.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- You... (group applauding) You mentioned the President's name.

I want to ask you- about this.

- Yes.

- You have actually been fairly out front on politics.

- Yeah, fairly, right.

- You performed- - (laughs) Fairly, unfairly.

- You performed at the Democratic Convention last time.

- Yep.

- You have been outspoken on a whole bunch of issues that you mentioned and a whole bunch that we didn't.

Do you worry that being political as an artist necessarily cuts you off from a fan base that may not agree with the stuff that you say, might like your music, but you maybe run them off by being- too out there?

- No, I worry that they're gonna show up and ruin the time- - Is that right?

- Everybody else- is having.

- Yeah.

(group laughing and applauding) - You know, I'm not an industrial farm.

I am a garden and I would like to cultivate that garden- - Yeah.

- And I would like to put things in that garden that I want to grow and I don't need everything- - So you don't want.

- And I don't need everybody.

- You have enough fans who are with you on the things that are important and you're not worried about the people, if they choose not to be with you because of your politics- - There's a lot of people, there's a lot of people in the world.

- Find other people.

- And yeah, there are a lot of people- in the world.

- Yeah.

- And a good solid portion of 'em are not assholes.

(group laughing and applauding) You know, and if I go completely- - There are some assholes.

- There are assholes, there are.

- Just south.

- And they're everywhere.

- Right.

- They're not just in the south, they're everywhere.

But yeah, I just, I keep touring and going to these places and finding people that are wonderful.

And I feel so lucky, because, you know, outside in the world, things have become obvious that weren't always obvious and it's not necessarily the most comfortable place to be in America right now.

But when I go play a show, I feel very welcome and I feel like everybody's- - Good.

- Welcome in that room.

And that's kind of the point of having the communal experience of making music for me.

- Yeah, good, okay.

- Yeah.

- Hi.

- Hi.

I sound like you (laughs).

I went to Georgia and y'all were my bar music.

- Oh, okay.

- And so when I listen to your stuff, I'm 19 again.

Do y'all remember when we were 19 and like, we didn't know the world was shitty yet.

(laughs) And so- - I remember when you were 19.

I don't know if I remember (group laughing) when I was.

- Fair.

- It was like a long time ago.

- So, I heard the Save the World song and I was heartbroken.

'Cause Texas, you know, us and guns.

But I wanted to let you know, because every time I hear it, I'm heartbroken for folks, that I started the mental health clinic in Uvalde after the shooting.

And we have now, (group applauding) no, don't clap, it's terrible, the fact that I had to go down there, but it was something I could do.

And I heard that song and I have a 9-year-old and I felt as helpless as you did, which is why I went down.

We have now 15 or 20 people that staff it from all over the State.

But I just wanted you to know when I heard that song and how helpless you felt, I feel helpless too.

But we are helping, there are helpers, like Mr. Rogers said, "Look for us, we're here."

- Yeah.

- So I just wanted to let you know that, that somebody's trying that there are about 20 of us.

- Thank you.

- Yeah, thank you.

Thank you so much.

And, I mean, I, you have to look at, it's not about moving the needle 'cause it's like if we take care of one other person, you know, I feel like we have paid for our time on the planet, you know?

And, yeah, it would be great if everybody like teamed up and fixed things, that would be fantastic.

But, you know, instead of just sitting around and wishing for that to happen, it's beautiful when somebody says, "I'm gonna do something.

"It might not fix all the problems, "but I'm gonna do something."

And I appreciate you very much for that and I'm glad to know that you listen to the music- you know?

- Yeah, I can't hear it again.

Please play, not that.

- Yeah, yeah, right.

- Yeah, thank you.

- Yeah, that one doesn't come in every night, thank you.

- Yeah, I'm a therapist by the way.

We didn't just go down there and be like, yay.

But I wanted, every time I hear that song, I'm heartbroken for you.

- Yeah.

- And I just wanted to let you know that there are helpers.

- Yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Are we done?

(group applauding) - That's us.

- That's it.

- Alright.

Alright.

We're outta time.

We have to get Jason back downtown.

What a great opportunity to spend time with Jason Isbell.

Give him a big hand!

- Thank y'all.

Thank you so much.

Thank you much.

(group cheering and applauding)