November 1, 2017 6:12PM ET

Jason Isbell and James McMurtry Announce Joint 2018 Tour

Two of Americana’s most revered songwriters will play multiple dates in Birmingham, Atlanta and elsewhere

Reporter

Stephen L. Betts's Most Recent Stories

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit will kick off 2018 on tour with singer-songwriter James McMurtry. The double bill runs from January 4th, launching in Oklahoma City, through February 17th in Charleston, West Virginia.

“James McMurtry is one of my very few favorite songwriters on Earth,” says Isbell, who will headline the dates, including multi-date stops in Birmingham, Atlanta and Durham, North Carolina. “[He] has that rare gift of being able to make a listener laugh out loud at one line and choke up at the next. I don’t think anybody writes better lyrics.”

The two Americana mainstays, who have played several shows together in the past, previously toured as label mates at Lightning Rod Records in 2011. Isbell’s latest LP, The Nashville Sound, is nominated for CMA Album of the Year at next week’s ceremony in MusicCity. McMurtry’s most recent album, Complicated Game, was released in 2015. His debut LP, Too Long in the Wasteland, issued in 1989, was produced by John Mellencamp, who was starring in a film based on a screenplay by the musician’s father, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Larry McMurtry, who passed a tape of his son’s songs to the musician.

Here are Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s 2018 tour dates with James McMurtry:

January 4 – Oklahoma City, OK @ The Criterion
January 5 – Dallas, TX @ The Bomb Factory
January 6 – Baton Rouge, LA @ River Center Performing Arts
January 7 – Mobile, AL @ Saenger Theatre
January 18-20 – Birmingham, AL @ Alabama Theatre
January 21 – Little Rock, AR @ Robinson Center
January 23 – Cedar Rapids, IA @ Paramount Theatre
January 24 – Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theatre
January 27 – Indianapolis, IN @ Murat
January 29 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Heinz Hall
January 30 – Buffalo, NY @ UB Center for the Arts
January 31 – Albany, NY @ Palace Theatre
February 2 – Providence, RI @ Veterans Memorial Auditorium
February 3 – Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre
February 5 – Red Bank, NJ @ Count Basie Theatre
February 6 – Baltimore, MD @ The Modell Lyric
February 8-9 – Atlanta, GA @ Fox Theatre
February 10-11 – Durham, NC @ Durham Performing Arts Center
February 13 – Ithaca, NY @ State Theatre
February 14 – Reading, PA @ Santander Performing Arts Center
February 16 – Richmond, VA @ Altria Theater
February 17 – Charleston, WV @ Municipal Auditorium