Alabama tuned into CNN’s coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago when they heard Jason Isbell sound checking “Something More Than Free” in the background of their broadcast.

The Grammy-winner from Green Hill (appearing solo on stage) delivered on that promise with a heartfelt rendition of the title track to his 2015 album, followed by a word about the folks in the room also from his home state.

“Shoutout to my Alabama delegation over there,” Isbell said. “I love y’all.”

Wearing a navy tuxedo and playing his custom Fender Telecaster, the folk/rock star certainly surprised no one with his appearance at the DNC, at least those who have followed Isbell’s career during which he has expressed his political proclivities.

In 2020, he posted on Twitter if then-candidate Joe Biden carried Georgia in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, he’d record an album covering songs by Georgia artists to raise funds for charity.

After Biden won Georgia, Isbell made good on his promise. In 2021, Isbell released “Georgia Blue,” which included his versions of songs by the likes of the Allman Brothers, James Brown, Gladys Knight and R.E.M.

In 2017, Isbell played a solo acoustic show at the since-shuttered SideTracks Music Hall in Huntsville to raised funds for Democrat Doug Jones’s campaign. He supported Jones again in 2020, with another fundraising solo show, this time at Birmingham’s Lyric Theatre.

Before Monday night’s performance, Isbell posted on Threads that Golden State Warriors and USA Basketball head coach Steve Kerr, who spoke at the convention, gave him some encouragement ahead of the gig. “I got a slap on the back and a “Go get ‘em” from Coach Kerr tonight, so I had no choice but to go and get ‘em,” Isbell wrote.

Ahead of his appearance at the DNC on Monday, the New York Times published an interview with Isbell in which he discussed his politics. Times political reporter Nick Corasaniti asked Isbell he thought playing the DNC or publicly espousing Democratic views would impact his audiences.

“No, I don’t worry about that,” Isbell said. “don’t really think mine is split down the middle. I think the majority of people, just because of the fact that the music I have always made has been independent, and more of a boutique thing. If it grows, and it already has grown past the point I expected it to, but the people that we pick up along the way, usually the majority of those people are at the very least open to whatever I have to say politically. But at the same time, like, the ultimate goal for me is not to get as many fans as possible.”

Isbell grew up in Green Hill and Muscle Shoals and is a longtime Nashville-area resident who has won six Grammy Awards, including two this year.

If you tuned into CNN’s broadcast around 8:30 p.m. central time, as Kaitlan Collins (another Alabama native) interviewed Rep. Pramila Jayapal, you could hear Isbell’s sound check in the background.

“Something More Than Free” was Isbell’s fifth studio album, released in 2015. It won Best Americana Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards, while the song “24 Frames” won Best American Roots Song.

Isbell’s next concert is set for Sept. 5 at Charlotte’s Ovens Auditorium. Before then, he’ll return to Huntsville for an Aug. 26 event at which he and fellow Alabama native and Grammy winner Brittany Howard will receive Alabama Humanities Fellows, the highest humanities honor bestowed in the state.

The Alabama Humanities Fellows event will center around a moderated, in-depth conversation between the two musicians. Howard and Isbell will also perform one song each. Muscle Shoals native and (Isbell’s former bandmate in Southern rock outfit Drive-By Truckers) Patterson Hood will present Howard and Isbell with their Fellows awards.