Hear Jason Isbell's Songwriting Secrets

, one of the greatest songwriters of his generation, sits down with host Brian Hiatt in a new episode of to discuss his excellent upcoming album, (with his band the 400 Unit), his whole career, the challenges of sobriety, fatherhood, why he almost didn’t write “Maybe It’s Time” for , how he enlisted David Crosby as a back-up singer, and much more.

The former Drive-By Truckers member also digs deep into his novelistic songwriting process, explaining why he’s suspicious of cool-sounding lyrics when he writes them. “You go, ‘oh that’s really great,’” he says. “‘Wait a minute, that could be very, very stupid.’ Great lines in a song are usually right on the edge of being meaningless.”

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