Jason Isbell is finding his purpose

JASON ISBELL SAYS THE DESIRE TO BE HONEST AND FAIR is his compass. "One day I decided: "This is what I'm going to claim as the purpose for why I'm here," he says. "I think it's to leave the place a little bit better than I found it, and to experience all the things that I can experience."

- SILAS HOUSE

This year, Isbell is certainly experiencing plenty. He is releasing two albums, has a role in Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, and is the subject of an HBO documentary.

Isbell, 44, broke onto the music scene with the rock band Drive-By Truckers in 2001 and went solo in 2007. But his 2013 album, Southeastern, changed his career not too long after he changed his life by becoming sober. Since then he has won four Grammys, become known as one of the country's leading singer-songwriters, and gained a legion of devoted fans, including Bruce Springsteen and the late John Prine.

Isbell is thoughtful and tenderhearted, but also decisive and tough. He listens closely and looks people in the eye when he speaks to them. Quick to laughter, he also displays a keen intelligence with an expansive vocabulary, whether he's discussing the complexities of allegory in songwriting or the worries of the modern age.

Those concerns are at the heart of his latest album, Weathervanes, a collection of 13 original songs that will be released June 9, marking his sixth studio collaboration with the 400 Unit.

"I think we're all worried about the same things, we just have different ideas about how to resolve those concerns. When I'm trying to tackle a big issue... if I go into it like I'm trying to tell a story ... then that's hard to argue with. It's hard to argue with one person saying, 'I am scared."