Small Moments

Jason Isbell and John Moreland captivate Cain’s

“This is a song called ‘Cleveland County Blues,’” John Moreland bellowed to his enthusiastic Tulsa audience on a recent Monday evening. “It’s about how you shouldn’t move to Norman.”  

The crowd laughed at the dig—Moreland recently relocated to Norman and then promptly moved back to Tulsa. 

He launched into the song with the heartbroken words, “My baby is a tornado in the endless Oklahoma sky.” The mood of the room immediately shifted.

The Tulsa native opened for Jason Isbell at Cain’s Ballroom with an acoustic set of songs from his latest album, High on Tulsa Heat. Throughout the evening, Moreland captivated the crowd with his earnest take on love, loss, growing up and growing old in Oklahoma. His songs have a way of capturing the small, significant moments that get away from so many of us. If anyone ever asks you what it’s like to grow up in Oklahoma, a copy of Heat is a good place to start.

I attended the concert with a close friend who lives and breathes the music of Jason Isbell. Thanks to this friend, I was already familiar with Isbell’s backstory—his departure from the Drive-by Truckers, his newfound sobriety and the accompanying creative resurgence with his acclaimed solo project, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. 

After Moreland’s set, as the house lights dimmed and the stage again lit up announcing the imminent arrival of Isbell, my friend said, “I might genuinely cry tonight.”

If the enthusiasm of a Jason Isbell crowd isn’t enough to win you over, Isbell himself surely will. 

“This is a brand new damn song,” he announced before launching into “If it Takes a Lifetime,” the opening track from Isbell’s upcoming Something More Than Free. “Hell yeah!” fans loudly returned. 

Standouts of the evening included a handful of songs from Isbell’s heralded 2013 breakthrough, Southeastern. Album opener “Cover Me Up” offered a moment of sentimentality, while the upbeat drum intro to “Stockholm” elicited vigorous cheers before Isbell had even begun singing. But the high point of the evening came near the end of the set when Isbell treated fans to his Drive-By Truckers classic, “Decoration Day.”

“When I was younger, I knew I had these songs that were going to be heard,” he told the crowd.  “But I hadn’t done anything yet.  So, I took the stories that family had passed down and told me—‘These are the stories you don’t ever tell anybody!’­—and turned them into songs. Don’t tell them I said that…” With the opening chords, the crowd roared.  

The song—a dark story about familial resentment and generational sin—is a mammoth ballad driven by cutting guitars and extended instrumental sections.  Fulfillment washed over me and a smile crossed my face. I looked to my friend, the Isbell follower, and saw tears of joy.

For more on happenings at local venues, A. Jakober's stories on IDL Ballroom and '90s Tulsa radio personality Mike "Hondo" Walker.