“It would have been harder to nerd out like I did if I was constantly scrolling TikTok”: Jason Isbell doubts he’d have become a musician if he had the “distractions” kids have today
“Brain rot” – Oxford’s 2024 Word of the Year and now officially added to the OED – feels like a phrase made for the social media era.
Defined as “a perceived loss of intelligence or critical thinking skills… attributed to the overconsumption of unchallenging or inane content,” it’s a sign of the times. Even Jason Isbell admits that if TikTok and Instagram had been around when he was growing up, the constant “distractions” might have stopped him from becoming a musician altogether.
READ MORE: “I want to be more myself, and get back to the real joy of playing guitar”: Sophie Lloyd to post simpler content due to social media pressures ruining the fun of playing music
Speaking on Alabama Public Radio’s APR Notebook podcast, the six-time Grammy winner explains how the absence of those platforms gave him the focus to dig deep into his music.
“It might be harder to nerd out in the way that I did and go back and study this music, if I could just constantly be scrolling through TikTok or Instagram or something,” says Isbell. “But at the time when I started making music myself, I got obsessed with it, and I spent hours and hours researching. You know, I would find an artist, and then I would say, Well, who are their influences, and who are their influences? And I would work my way backwards.”
Growing up around the Muscle Shoals area [where the iconic FAME studios resides] in Alabama, Isbell had a unique advantage. The city’s rich musical legacy meant that the local legends weren’t just names in liner notes, but players he could actually watch onstage.
“I could go to a lot of the places and talk to a lot of the people who had worked on these albums,” Isbell recalls. “And you know, the musicians from here in town, Spooner (Oldham) and David (Hood) and Donny Fritz, they would be playing in restaurants and bars, you know, covering a lot of the songs that they’d played on originally.”
“I would order an appetizer and stay for four hours and watch people play these songs. I got very, very lucky,” says the guitarist.
Despite Isbell’s doubts though, apps like TikTok and Instagram have become powerful launchpads for a new generation of musicians. Guitarists like Matteo Mancuso and Sophie Lloyd have built international audiences from viral clips, while countless bedroom players reach millions with inventive riffs and covers. For all its potential for “distractions”, social media platforms continue to serve as important gateways for the next generation of guitar talent.
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