Writing Is About Explaining Things to Ourselves

Here’s what Jason Isbell said about songwriting on the Wits radio show:

“I made up a bunch of fictional stories about myself…I like to not have to tell people what’s about me and what’s not…I like to take things that I’m feeling and try to explain them to myself by building a story, building characters, and then letting them behave in my stead. Letting them just kind of screw their lives up and see. It’s a good way to test out the sort of decisions I should make.”