Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, and Peter Levin returned last Friday with yet another episode of I So Lounging. Only this time, the husband-and-wife crew alongside keyboardist Levin hosted a new friend, Aerosmith rhythm guitarist Brad Whitford, who just so happens to be Isbell and Shires’ neighbor just outside of Nashville.
This marks the fifth episode in the recently-revived I So Lounging streaming series from Isbell, Shires, and Levin, which is now in its “Second Wave”. Isbell and his 400 Unit bandmate/wife returned on July 24th with “The Second Wave” of I So Lounging, this time with Levin as a permanent fixture.
The session, as always, started off with some impromptu jamming, this time between Levin, Isbell, and Whitford. This free-form improvisation leads the group into the Jimmy Reed blues standard “Baby What You Want Me To Do”, as Shires eventually joins the fold to play her fiddle and provide backup vocals to Isbell. Once the song is over, the group partakes in the traditional chitchat that fills up most of the episodes of I So Lounging. It was encouraging to see that, despite being in the presence of somebody as famous as Whitford, the I So Lounging gang remains true to themselves and don’t change a thing just because company came over.
Following some polite inquiry as to Whitford’s quarantine lifestyle, the ensemble gets back to business with “Cryin'” from Aerosmith’s 1993 album Get A Grip. With Shires taking lead vocals and plucking her fiddle when she can, Whitford provides his faithful rhythm foundation so that Isbell can act as the surrogate Joe Perry. Following some succinct chatter about how Isbell and Whitford almost wore the same Prince shirt to the live stream, the group takes on one last blues tune with The Rolling Stones‘ “You Gotta Move”. The slow, barroom grit of “You Gotta Move” lended itself perfectly to the guitar interplay between Isbell and Whitford, and even saw Shires taking lead for a moment on fiddle before closing out the song as well as the session.
Watch Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, and Peter Levin perform with special guest Brad Whitford in the latest installment of I So Lounging.
Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, Peter Levin, Brad Whitford – I So Lounging Episode 5
[Video: Amanda Shires]