The doors to Studio A open and immediately we’re whisked back to 2019. The opening scene of Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed visits RCA Victor Recording Studios in Nashville, Tenn. There, Isbell and his bandmates from the 400 Unit are working with producer Dave Cobb and engineer Gena Johnson on the tracks that would become the Reunions album, released in 2020. Many intimate moments from Isbell’s past make up the new documentary from director Sam Jones that debuts Friday, April 7, on HBO and HBO Max.

In one of the film’s early scenes, we see Isbell seated on a sofa, surrounded by his bandmates — Amanda Shires, Sadler Vaden, Jimbo Hart, Derry deBorja and Chad Gamble — and producer Cobb. Isbell is playing solo acoustic versions of his songs; meanwhile, we see the others listening intently, taking careful notes or, in the case of Vaden and Cobb, working out secondary parts on their own guitars. This hard-working group of professional musicians look intently focused on making the best album they possibly can.

And then there’s a point where a disagreement about a lyric arises between Isbell and Shires — an accomplished singer-songwriter and musician who holds a master’s degree in creative writing and is also married to Isbell. The word in question: a preposition. Jones uses this moment as a fulcrum for the story that follows.

Jones’s previous music-related documentaries include working with Bob Dylan on Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued and with Wilco on I Am Trying To Break Your Heart. For Running With Our Eyes Closed, he says, “I wanted to discover where the life and art connected.”

While talking about songwriting, Isbell observes, “I have to come to terms with things that don’t make me look cool or don’t paint me in the best light or don’t promote an idea I have of controlling my own image because I think controlling your image is the opposite of creating art.” Soon we realize this also applies to the documentary; with Running With Our Eyes Closed, Isbell readily relinquishes control to Sam Jones, and what emerges is a courageous and vulnerable work of art. Although the making and eventual release of Reunions provides a throughline for the documentary, it becomes clear that this film is a making-of film — not just of an album, but of a person.

As viewers, we learn so much about who Jason Isbell is — including his youth in Alabama, his years with Drive-By Truckers, and his descent into substance-use disorder and dependency. Rare footage of a private concert in Virginia, provided by Isbell’s longtime manager Traci Thomas, shows in unmitigated detail the nadir of that phase in Isbell’s life. Shires, confident and inspiringly self-aware, quickly emerges as the hero, taking charge and getting Isbell into the recovery he admitted need for.

Running With Our Eyes Closed becomes nearly as much about Shires as it is about Isbell, as we see the couple working together to sustain their marriage, raise their daughter, create a home, and yes, make a record and pursue careers in music. “Amanda and I have very different personalities but identical values,” Isbell points out.

Those personalities and those values are put strongly to the test in the course of Running With Our Eyes Closed. Now sober, Isbell’s creative output has earned him accolades (Paste magazine, for instance, has called Isbell “one of the best songwriters working”) and legions of loyal fans, but with that success comes added pressure. Shires shares how Isbell will be filled with “anxiousness” over the entire period of making the record. Isbell himself seems reluctant to acknowledge just how much pressure he puts on himself. Cutaways to interviews with others in Isbell’s orbit — his bandmates, producer Cobb, manager Thomas, Drive-By Truckers’ Patterson Hood — all corroborate and add to what Shires sees.

When the COVID-19 pandemic emerges in the middle of making the film, the tone of the story and the texture of the film are altered with it. We see Isbell and Shires facing new challenges together. Observations from the other members of the 400 Unit reinforce that this is a challenging time for everyone — providing a microcosm of the global pandemic. Along those lines, we see how for some, amid a worldwide illness, the pandemic proves ironically healing.

Jones guides the story with a gentle hand. He certainly takes us into the tracking of several songs on Reunions, giving us a fly-on-the-wall (and occasionally ceiling) POV of Studio A, rendered in color. For interviews with Isbell and his peers, Jones and editor Erin Nordstrom switch to black-and-white. When the pandemic strikes, Jones peels away the artifice, and all reflections and observations come through unfiltered.

In presenting this comprehensive look at Isbell’s life so far, Jones informs us that Isbell’s lyrics, ensconced though they are in the artistic framework of excellent songwriting with vital input from Shires, are deeply personal and frequently autobiographical. “There’s really no more intrinsic value to making a record than there is to writing in your journal when you’re 15 years old,” Isbell says. “It’s really for the same purpose. There’s something that we have to say, and in the process of figuring out how to say that, we learn who we are.” 

In the course of Running With Our Eyes Closed, we learn volumes about who Jason Isbell is. Fans of Jason Isbell and of Amanda Shires will have their fandom further strengthened, and fans of music documentaries will likely find themselves fans of Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires.

As Jones says at the beginning of Running With Our Eyes Closed, “Jason Isbell is one of those songwriters that feels like you know him and he knows you.” If Jones set out to prove that statement, he triumphantly succeeds.

External Links

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - official site

Amanda Shires - official site

Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed - official site (HBO)