Jason Isbell rocks out for 3+ hours in Nashville suburb for charity show

Patrons to the Friday night show at Fox & Locke in Leiper's Fork last week got some great grub, a cold beer and a big surprise when singer-songwriter extraordinaire Jason Isbell took the stage alongside his wife Amanda Shires and a full band. They proceeded to roll through a three-plus hour set of Muscle Shoals jams ranging from cover tunes to Christmas songs.

Isbell opened with Albert King's "Born Under a Bad Sign," and then launched into the Allman Brothers classic "Melissa" and Tom Petty's "Breakdown," joking with the crowd: "I'm Jason. These are my friends.... I promise you we are not going to play any songs that we know. That's my only goal tonight. Don't play any songs that I know. And have a good time. This is going to be a very, very professional show. We're filming it for YouTube."

The Leiper's Fork community south of Nashville is home to quite a few famous musicians, including Isbell, who called on some friends in the crowd to come join in the fun. Isbell addressed fellow musician Gary Nichols from the mic and said, "I see that hole in your face is still there, so come up here and make some sound come out of it."

Nichols, Isbell and the band ripped through a very Chubby Checker-esque "Run Run Rudolph" and the Allmans' "Midnight Rider."

Shires took a turn at the mic singing Bo Didley's "Who Do You Love?"

Next to join the stage was musician and producer Butch Walker, who jokingly said, "You played the one song I know, which was 'Breakdown.'"

But Walker managed to remember several songs, even taking center stage when Isbell stepped offstage to let Walker run the show for a bit. Several times during the show, the small stage held up to eight musicians.

The tone for the evening was casual and felt more like an impromptu living room jam session than a polished, rehearsed show. It seemed the musicians loved taking it back to when that was the norm, pressure was off and anything went. At times, the group paused to collectively decide what song to play next as band members tossed out ideas.

Lucky for those in the small crowd, Isbell and his pack knew a lot of Clapton, Allman Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Jackson Browne and Tom Petty.

Tickets to the show were $40 with proceeds going to Leiper's Fork charity Helping Hands, which focuses its efforts on those in need in the Leiper's Fork area. Thanks to an anonymous match of what was raised in ticket sales, the charity ended up getting a $10,000 donation.

Melonee Hurt covers growth and development (and sometimes music) at The Tennessean, part of the USA Today Network - Tennessee. Reach Melonee at mhurt@tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jason Isbell rocks out for 3+ hours in Nashville suburb for charity