How Jason Isbell Consistently Wins at Twitter
In the echo chamber that is Twitter, Jason Isbell’s voice constantly cuts through the static.
Nearly a decade since first joining the social-media service in March 2009, the folksinger has evolved into a master of the platform, spending much of his downtime perfecting a delicate balance between music talk, irreverent fun and serious discourse.
Although Isbell is a rare artist moving units in the streaming age — his latest, 2017’s The Nashville Sound, has sold 145,900 copies as of last month — interest in his musical exploits isn’t the only explanation for his 226,000 followers. To know the Alabama-born singer-songwriter is to understand he is many things: a father and husband, Southerner, recovering addict, sneaker nerd, and baseball diehard with a future in stand-up comedy in the unlikely event his music career fizzles out. On Twitter, he has the head-on-a-swivel awareness and empathy of an experienced middle-school teacher, working to wrangle and engage with his tweet-happy base, whichever side of the artist and his work speaks the loudest to them.
Leave it to Isbell, then, to turn even an obvious exercise in trolling into a teaching moment. That’s what he did moments after exiting the stage in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sunday to a storm of hostile tweets from one Denise “DC” McAllister, a local conservative blogger who attended the show. A self-professed fan of Isbell’s music — but apparently not “White Man’s World,” one of The Nashville Sound’s most talked-about tracks — McAllister dissed the song as “an effort to fit in with the celebrity world,” and Isbell as “ashamed of [his] roots.” In language peppered with right-wing buzzwords (“triggered,” “snowflakes”), she went on to tweet at him directly 18 more times over the next day.
I’m not ashamed of a damn thing. I always play that song, and a couple thousand people bought tickets and showed up knowing they’d hear it. I’d call that a great reception. https://t.co/LNihOz2ZB9
— Jasoñ Isbell (@JasonIsbell) September 24, 2018
Not only did Isbell respond, the “White Man’s World” tweets touched off a dialogue between the singer and listeners from both sides of the political spectrum.
“I’m not ashamed of a damn thing. I always play that song, and a couple thousand people bought tickets and showed up knowing they’d hear it. I’d call that a great reception,” read his matter-of-fact reply to McAllister’s initial tweet. Isbell followed that up by thanking her for “sharing my music” and reopening a discussion of the tough topics his songwriting has never shied away from, later de-escalating the tension when some of his more strident supporters had taken it upon themselves to give McAllister a piece of their mind. (“Hey everybody: Don’t threaten this lady!”)
No I didn’t get pissed. I used your trolling to make a point in front of a whole lot of followers. That’s how twitter works. Plus, my three year old daughter was side stage when we played that song. I was playing it for her. Thanks for sharing my music. https://t.co/bu4hoLzrkN
— Jasoñ Isbell (@JasonIsbell) September 24, 2018
“Conservative fans are a big part of the reason why I choose to speak my mind,” Isbell had tweeted from Asheville, North Carolina, two days prior to the Charlotte show. “I’m not looking for an echo chamber. If I hated you I wouldn’t want you to get better at empathizing. I’d just want you to go away.”
Or perhaps unfollow — which would be their loss. Regardless of what Twitter users might think of Isbell’s politics, they’d be missing out on his skewed sense of humor, whether he’s commenting on a fluff story about Jon Bon Jovi surprising shoppers at a grocery store (“I’m picturing him jumping out from behind the Doritos and yelling”); sharing his vision for Heart’s catalog (“Sometimes I picture a commercial with a bank manager singing ‘How do I get you a loan’ to the tune of ‘Alone'”); or dreaming up a 12-step-inspired rap handle (“A rapper named Step9 who pretty much just apologizes to everybody for shit he did last year”).
But even Isbell — one of Americana music’s most concise, deliberate lyricists — knows when 280 characters can be too much. “Social media is like a sauna,” he tweeted in June. “It feels nice for a little while but if you stay in there all day you’ll sweat yourself to death.”