Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit shared a cover of “Midnight Train To Georgia” set to appear on the Peach State cover album, Georgia Blue. The latest single from the album, due out on October 15th on Isbell’s Southeastern imprint, features guests Brittney Spencer and John Paul White.
In this rendition of Gladys Knight & The Pips‘ only Hot 100 chart-topper, Isbell takes a backseat to Spencer’s captivating vocals. The cover is swept along by a bristling horn section that gives it a vintage feel, propelling Spencer to the forefront where she belongs.
Related: Watch Jason Isbell Cover The Allman Brothers Band In Seventh Grade [Watch]
Georgia Blue began as an online gentleman’s agreement Isbell made with his 402,000 Twitter followers that if Georgia went blue and Joe Biden won the state in the 2021 presidential election, he would record an all-Georgia cover album. The finished product, Georgia Blue, features Isbell and a slew of special guests including Bèla Fleck, Chris Thile, Brandi Carlile, Julien Baker, and many more as they take on tracks by Georgia royalty The Allman Brothers Band, James Brown, R.E.M, Otis Redding, Vic Chesnutt, Indigo Girls, The Black Crowes, and more.
Isbell said of the album in a lengthy statement,
Georgia Blue is a labor of love. On election day 2020, when I saw that there was a good chance the state of Georgia might go blue, I came up with an idea: to record an album of Georgia- related songs as a thank you to the state and donate the money to a Georgia based non-profit organization. I will admit my motivations were a bit selfish. For years, I’ve been looking for an excuse to record these songs with my band and some friends. The songs on this album are some of my favorite Georgia-related songs, but the tracklist is not meant to be comprehensive. I would love to cover Outkast and 2 Chainz, but I don’t think the finished product would be very good. We’re a rock band, so we covered rock songs. We have roots in blues and R&B, so we enlisted some brilliant artists to help us pull off songs by Precious Bryant, James Brown, and Gladys Knight. My favorite part of the Georgia Blue recording process was having the opportunity to work with these very special artists, and I thank them: Amanda Shires, Brittney Spencer, Adia Victoria, Brandi Carlile, Julien Baker, Bèla Fleck, Chris Thile, Steve Gorman, Peter Levin, and John Paul White. I hope you enjoy listening to these recordings as much as we enjoyed making them. Keep listening to good music and fighting the good fight.
Listen to Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit cover “Midnight Train To Georgia” with Brittney Spencer and John Paul White via the player below and click here to pre-order Georgia Blue.
Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit (ft. Brittney Spencer, John Paul White) — “Midnight Train To Georgia” (Gladys Knight & The Pips)
[Video: Jason Isbell]