New West Records is set to release Jason Isbell’s Sirens Of The Ditch (Deluxe Edition) on July 13. Originally released in 2007, the album was co-produced by Isbell and his former Drive-By Truckers bandmate, Patterson Hood.

Sirens Of The Ditch was recorded at FAME Recording Studio in Isbell’s hometown of Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

Isbell is joined by Brad Morgan of the Drive-By Truckers on drums, and former Drive-By Truckers member, Shonna Tucker on bass. Several musicians pop in for cameos including the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section players David Hood (Patterson’s father) and Spooner Oldham on “Down In A Hole,” John Neff of Drive-By Truckers on “Dress Blues,” and Patterson Hood on “Shotgun Wedding.” Sirens Of The Ditch (Deluxe Edition) features four previously unreleased songs from the original sessions at FAME, recorded by Jimmy Nutt and Rodney Hall.

Sirens Of The Ditch (Deluxe Edition) will be available across digital platforms, on compact disc, as well as 180g vinyl. There will also be a limited, clear vinyl LP version available at independent retailers as well as a limited, split brown & cream colored version exclusive to Vinyl Me Please.

Sirens Of The Ditch (Deluxe Reissue) Track Listing:
1. Brand New Kind Of Actress
2. Down In A Hole
3. Try
4. Chicago Promenade
5. Dress Blues
6. Grown
7. Hurricanes and Hand Grenades
8. In A Razor Town
9. Shotgun Wedding
10. The Magician
11. The Devil Is My Running Mate
12. Whisper (Previously Unreleased)
13. Crystal Clear (Previously Unreleased)
14. The Assassin (Previously Unreleased)
15. Racetrack Romeo (Previously Unreleased)

Find out more about Gregg Allman’s decision to record at FAME Recording Studios in this excerpt taken from Gregg’s website. To read the full article and listen to the album, click here.

“ A further key to Allman’s vision for Southern Blood was his decision to record at the world-renowned FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL. Alongside its own fabled history, the legendary studio occupied a momentous place in Allman’s personal back pages.

“A constant discussion during all of my nearly 15 years working with Gregg was his desire to return to Muscle Shoals,” Lehman says. “He always would talk about how he needed to get back to FAME Studios to bring him full circle.”

“Muscle Shoals is hallowed musical ground,” says Was. “FAME was the place where Gregg’s brother Duane first started making waves in the music world and where the earliest seeds of The Allman Brothers Band were sown in a back room during their first, seminal rehearsals. Duane’s presence is still ubiquitous in that building. Recording there was Gregg’s way of making his spirit a part of this album, in the same way that his spirit continued to be part of Gregg’s life.”

Hear producer Don Was talk about recording with Gregg at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL in this sneak peak of the documentary, “Back To The Swamp: The Recording of Southern Blood”.”

In the seven decades since the Blind Boys of Alabama first began singing together, America has witnessed a World War, the civil rights movement, and the Summer of Love; the moon landing, Vietnam, and the fall of the Berlin Wall; JFK, MLK, and Malcolm X; the invention of the jukebox, the atomic bomb, and the internet. Through it all, the Blind Boys’ music has not only endured, but thrived, helping both to define the sound of the American south and to push it forward through the 20th century and well on into the 21st. Praised by NPR as “pioneers,” the group has transcended barriers of race and genre to become one of the most acclaimed and celebrated groups in modern music. From the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind, where the original members met as children, all the way to The White House – where they’ve performed for three different presidents – the band’s story is, in many ways, America’s story, and that story is at the heart of their emotional new album, ‘Almost Home.’

Recorded over four different sessions helmed by four different GRAMMY-winning producers in four different cities, ‘Almost Home’ recounts the band’s remarkable journey, primarily through original songs written for them by an outstanding collection of artists including Valerie June, the North Mississippi Allstars, Phil Cook, John Leventhal, Marc Cohn, and Ruthie Foster among others. The record blends the sacred and secular, the traditional and innovative, the past and present.

‘Almost Home’ grew out of the recognition that the band’s original lineup is down to just two remaining survivors: long-time group leader Clarence Fountain and current leader Jimmy Carter. Both men were born in Alabama during the Great Depression, and while Carter is still active and regularly touring with the group, Fountain’s health precludes him from traveling much these days, though he does appear on the album.

The album opens with the captivating “Stay On The Gospel Side,” which sets the stage perfectly as it traces Fountain’s roots all the way back to childhood and recounts the band’s insistence on remaining true to their origins. Written by John Leventhal and Marc Cohn (with an additional credit to Fountain, since the title came from his exact words), the track is one of a trio of songs produced by Leventhal (Rosanne Cash, William Bell) and recorded in New York City, and it showcases the stunning range of joy and pain contained in the group’s beautifully weathered voices. On “Pray For Peace,” which is the Blind Boys’ version of a song submitted by the North Mississippi Allstars and recorded in Nashville with producer Vance Powell (Chris Stapleton, Jack White), the group offer up a foot-stomping, electrifying gospel blues for our troubled times. Meanwhile, the Cris Jacobs’-penned “I Kept On Walking,” recorded at FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals with Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin (Faith No More, Buckwheat Zydeco) producing, is a rave-up about persistence and resilience in the face of struggle and doubt, and the folky “Train Fare,” written by Valerie June and recorded in Seattle with long-time Blind Boys producer Chris Goldsmith (Charlie Musselwhite, Ben Harper), looks back on all the good works of the band’s career as their ticket to the afterlife.

Given the age of the surviving original members, it’s not hard to hear the subtext of the album. In lines like “my work is done and I’m finally going home to see my maker,” the band acknowledges that they’re closer to the end than the beginning. But rather than resting on their laurels, they’re adding a new chapter to their legacy, creating some of the finest work of their career as they solidify their place not just in musical history, but in the very fabric of American culture. The original members of the Blind Boys of Alabama may be ‘Almost Home,’ but it’s clear they intend to keep on singing, spreading peace, joy, and love until the very last note.