Jason Isbell

It was the late Wade Jessen who first told me that country is a cyclical genre. Jessen worked in Billboard magazine's Nashville office and was a walking encyclopedia when it came to music. One thing he said that I took to heart: Country styles come and go and, in time, they come around again.

Near the close of the career-spanning set Jason Isbell delivered at a sold-out Ryman Auditorium on October 18, 2019, the musician, supported by his agile, five-piece backing band the 400 Unit, knuckles into “Super 8,” a tragi-comic rock tune fueled by some of the group’s most lubricated riffs.

Watching Punch Brothers perform is akin to watching the Showtime-era Los Angeles Lakers run the fast-break offense, with mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile in the role of Magic Johnson at the point guard. It’s not simply that they exude effortlessness in their virtuosity, it’s that they do it in such a way that the magic they make seems inevitable.