Jason Isbell, down southeastern in New Orleans
 

The songwriter headlines two nights at The Joy Theater Oct. 22-23 Jason Isbell's "Traveling Alone," from the Alabama songwriter's acclaimed 2013 album Southeastern, compares a worn-out clunker steering life on the road to the husk of a man without a partner, the kind of metaphor Bruce Springsteen could wrap around a song about cars ? that's really about mending a broken heart. Springsteen himself called it a "lovely record" on NPR in 2014, and a few months later, backstage at a tribute to Dr. John at the Saenger Theatre, Isbell met*Springsteen, who sang it back*to him.?