Something More Than Free

Something More Than Free is the fifth studio album by Jason Isbell, released on July 17, 2015. It was produced by Dave Cobb, who had produced Isbell's previous record, Southeastern (2013). At the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, the album won the award for Best Americana Album, and the song "24 Frames" won the award for Best American Roots Song. Reception The album received mostly positive reviews. On Metacritic, it has a score of 87 out of 100 based on 25 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Jon Freeman of Nash Country Weekly gave the album a grade of "A" and wrote that "Jason Isbell has a reporter's eye for detail and a poet's gift for a beautifully crafted turn of phrase". He went on to say that "Jason's throaty rasp, not unlike Tyler Farr's, is the ideal vehicle for those stories [...] It may not be all pretty, but Something More Than Free is as real as it gets." Craig Manning of AbsolutePunk praised the album, writing: "Like Southeastern, Something More Than Free is a masterwork, and while I'm not sure if I quite agree with Isbell that it's better than Southeastern, it certainly offers a different (but equally satisfying) experience." In another positive review that compared the album to its predecessor, Eric Swedlund of The A.V. Club wrote that, "though Something More Than Free may not repeat Isbell's album-of-the-year accolades, it continues the magic of that breakthrough LP".