POETRY THROUGH SONG: Songwriter Jason Isbell, shown here, teams up with S.G. Goodman for an appearance at the State Theatre New Jersey on Friday, April 8 at 8 p.m.

The State Theatre New Jersey presents Jason Isbell with special guest S.G. Goodman on Friday, April 8, at 8 p.m. Tickets range from $45-$199.

Isbell is a native of north Alabama, known for his ability to identify and articulate human emotions and turn them into poetry through song. His first album, in 2013, was Southeastern. His next two albums, Something More Than Free (2015) and The Nashville Sound (2017), won Grammy Awards for Best Americana Album and Best American Roots Song. Isbell’s song “Maybe It’s Time” was featured in the 2019 reboot of A Star Is Born. His most recent full-length album, Reunions (2020), is a collection of 10 new songs. In April of 2021, it was announced that Isbell would appear in the upcoming Martin Scorsese film, Killers of the Flower Moon.

In October 2021, Isbell and the 400 Unit released a special new covers album, Georgia Blue. Created to celebrate Georgia’s role in the 2020 election, the record consists of new versions of 13 songs with ties to the state, including tracks originally recorded by Georgia natives R.E.M., Drivn’ N’ Cryin’, James Brown, Cat Power, Precious Bryant, Otis Redding, The Black Crowes, Indigo Girls, Now It’s Overhead, Gladys Knight & The Pips, The Allman Brothers Band, and Vic Chesnutt. All proceeds will benefit three nonprofit organizations: Black Voters Matter, Fair Fight, and Georgia STAND-UP.   

Kentucky native S.G. Goodman’s debut album, Old Time Feeling, a roots-inflected rock n’ roll record that narrates the dual perspectives of her upbringing as the daughter of a crop farmer, and a queer woman coming out in a rural town. Now with Teeth Marks, co-produced by Drew Vandenberg (Faye Webster, Drive-By Truckers, Of Montreal) in Athens, Georgia, she picks up the threads of Old Time Feeling. But where the first album zeroed in on the South, her latest album has downtown Velvet Underground electricity, shifting its focus inward — though never losing Goodman’s universal point of view.

The State Theatre New Jersey is at 15 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick. Visit STNJ.org for tickets.