NEW YORK – Jason Isbell had big plans for this summer, between a new album specifically designed to introduce his music to a wider audience and a schedule that had him onstage most nights from May to September.
Like millions of others, many of Isbell's dreams are on hold because of the coronavirus. So on a recent evening, he and wife Amanda Shires performed his new songs for an Internet audience at a near-empty Nashville club.
Stray claps sounded like they came from a handful of janitors sweeping up in the back. “It wasn't a new experience,” said Isbell, recalling a night in State College, Pennsylvania, where his only spectators were the opening band and bar employees.