The whole point is to keep you playing, to not give up. Isbell says he used to teach beginner guitars on electric guitar because it offered an easier playing experience for young players.

Isbell’s guitar playing and voice were both in great form, and the songs, all 18 of them (including a cover of Bon Iver’s “Beth/Rest”), sounded fantastic.

Tickets to see Isbell are $57-$132 general admisssion; $29.50 for UCSB students with current student ID. For tickets and information, visit www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu, or call 805-893-3535 or ...

Jason Isbell unplugged can still electrify. An excellent bandleader, guitarist and singer, Isbell is first and foremost a songwriter, and that skill takes center stage on his new album, “Foxes ...

ISBELL: I wound up recording a record in New York, and I wanted to walk into a studio in the Village with a single guitar and a notebook and come out of there with an album, like people used to do ...