The Making Of Jason Isbell's '24 Frames'

How does a song move from a notebook to your headphones? This behind-the-scenes video of Jason Isbell perfecting the song "24 Frames" — the first single from the new album Something More Than Free, and a song we at NPR Music loved the minute we heard it — sits the viewer right inside that process. After a bare-bones delivery from the songwriter, he and producer Dave Cobb work with Isbell's band, the 400 Unit, to add in colors — some guitar delay, a "Leonard Cohen 'Hallelujah'" style bass line — to turn a contemplative moment into an inspirational one. "I'm gonna let your inner '90s dude come out," someone says offscreen, supporting Isbell's claim that this follow-up to the universally acclaimed Southeastern will capture "the way indie rock sounded when I was 15." It's the way rock sounds now, too, in these good hands.