Jason Isbell’s ‘Sad But True’ Cover Dials Up the Twang [LISTEN]

Jason Isbell turns Metallica's 1993 single "Sad But True" into an uptempo country shuffle for the forthcoming The Metallica Blacklist tribute album. The cover arrived on Tuesday (June 29) and is available below.

Gone is the heaviness of the metal band's original. Instead, Isbell uses steady drums and electric guitars that are at times muted, at times fuzzy and at times all-out wailing to shed new light on the classic song.

"I'm your dream, mind astray / I'm your eyes while you're away / I'm your pain while you repay," Isbell sings. "You know it's sad but true / Sad but true."

On Twitter, Isbell shares a deeper Metallica connection within the song: The bass that 400 Unit member Jimbo Hart played for the session was a gift from former Metallica bassist Jason Newstead.

"I hoped the song would work as a Hill Country stomper, and I do believe it did," Isbell says. "So much fun."

Isbell is one of seven artists to reimagine "Sad But True" for The Metallica Blacklist, a massive collection that finds more than 50 artists covering songs from Metallica's self-titled album from 1991, more commonly known as The Black Album. From the country and Americana world, the project includes Chris Stapleton, Mickey Guyton, Jon Pardi, Darius Rucker and the folk-rock band Goodnight, Texas; the list of participating artists also includes, among many others, Miley Cyrus, Weezer, J Balvin and Rodrigo y Gabriela.

The Black Album is Metallica's fifth studio album, and saw the band adopt a slight change in style. The critically acclaimed record is Metallica's best-selling project to date: It's been certified a whopping 16-times platinum and spent four consecutive weeks atop the all-genre Billboard 200 — Metallica's first No. 1 album on that chart. "Sad But True," the project's final of five singles, peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard mainstream rock singles chart.

All profits from sales of The Metallica Blacklist will be split between Metallica's All Within My Hands Foundation and a charity selected by each artist (Isbell is helping the Nashville Rescue Mission). The collection is due out on Sept. 10 and is available on both vinyl and CD, and as a digital download.

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