“I know you’re probably doing something cool right now,” Zigaboo Modeliste, said over the phone after Chad Gamble picked up. Modeliste is the drummer for legendary New Orleans funk band The Meters. Meters’ slinky tracks have been soundtracked and sampled by the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Beastie Boys. If anyone knows cool it’s the guy who grooved “Cissy Strut.”

Gamble’s the drummer for destined-to-be-legendary singer/songwriter Jason Isbell. The two drummers had first connected during the pandemic. They’d continued corresponding periodically.

Replying to Modeliste on the phone this day, Gamble said, “I wish I could tell you I was doing something cool.” Because right then, Gamble wasn’t at Red Rocks Amphitheatre or any of the other elite venues Isbell and his ace longtime backing band The 400 Unit often perform at. When Modeliste called, Gamble was at home in Tuscumbia, Alabama vacuuming the floor. During a recent video-call interview, Gamble has a laugh recalling this moment.

Humility aside, Gamble is a huge reason why Isbell’s new and eighth album, “Weathervanes,” is Isbell’s best yet. Gambles grooves throughout the album help make this the most fun Isbell album to listen to yet. It’s grit, hard-lessons and heartache you can bob your head to and sometimes even dance to.

“It was a lot of fun to make,” Gamble says of “Weathervanes,” which was cut at Nashville’s Blackbird Studios instead of frequent Isbell haunt RCA Studio A.

Gamble attributes the good “Weathervanes” vibes to a couple of things. For one, Isbell produced the record, instead of longtime collaborator and friend Dave Cobb, with whom Isbell and co. have teamed for Grammy winning music previously. “Not really having to put a timeframe on anything,” Gamble says, “we spent as much time as we needed on stuff.”

Also, unlike previous LP, 2020′s “Reunions, “We didn’t have cameras in our face the whole time,” Gamble says, “which really took the pressure off.” Filmmaker Sam Jones, known for his documentaries on the band Wilco and skateboarder Tony Hawk, captured the “Reunions” sessions on camera, including tensions within Isbell’s marriage to Amanda Shires, the singer, songwriter and violinist who in addition to being a solo act and member of rootsy supergroup The Highwomen frequently contribute to Isbell’s recording and concerts.

Released this spring on HBO as “Running With Our Eyes Closed,” Jones’ Isbell doc offered a raw, real look at Isbell’s recording process. Being the subject of a music documentary instead of merely watching one took a bit of getting used to. “Just trying to be aware,” you’re being filmed, Gamble says, “but also trying to be natural in the moment of the sessions that we were doing. Also, remembering to turn your mic off when you went to the restroom.”

Gamble says watching himself in the doc or reliving some of the rough patches from those sessions is “kind of cringy” for him. That said, he feels the film “came out very well” and “Sam Jones told a great story.”

Still, in making “Weathervanes,” Gamble, who’s been with Isbell for around 15 years now, says, “It was just buds in there, you know, having a blast making music, and trying new things. It’s probably the best time we’ve had in the studio, I would say.”

Isbell’s lyrically-profound Southern-gothic folk-rock has always been art. The former hard-living Drive By-Trucker phenom who found stardom with his 2013 fourth LP “Southeastern” after finding sobriety, is known for writing and singing lyrics that are vivid and melancholic. Songs about addiction, cancer, white privilege, being trapped in a small town, being trapped in a small mind, and the inevitability of death. That said, Isbell’s signature hit, 2013′s “Cover Me Up” is about sex, so maybe he’s the AC/DC of Americana?

On “Weathervanes,” the songs are art and entertainment. The music’s now as interesting as the words. Previous albums in Isbell’s 2013 and on hot streak often seemed musically descended more from folk artists like John Prine, Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan and the less-bombastic side of Bruce Springsteen. There’ve been a few raucous moments sprinkled in there too, such as the Rod Stewart “Hot Legs” style boogie “Super 8″ off “Southeastern,” or the Tom Petty-like rockers “Cumberland Gap” and “Hope the High Road” from 2017 LP “The Nashville Sound.”

Isbell is a golden guitarist, as anyone who’s seen his concerts knows. On “Weathervanes,” his music draws more from pop-savvy rock acts like Fleetwood Mac, Dire Straits, Derek and the Dominoes, particularly on tracks like “Middle of the Morning,” “Save the World” and “Miles.”

Isbell’s vocal melodies and performances and production are pretty brilliant on this album. There’s a pop sensibility in the phrasing that feels new to his music, even all these years in. Gamble says Isbell also dug back into his roots as a singer too. “He’s got some growl in there that we haven’t heard in a while, you know? I think his voice is in as good shape as it’s ever been, and he’s gotten a little more playful with his vocals on this record.”

The album’s key track is “This Ain’t It,” with Isbell’s story-song lyrics set to greasy Rolling Stones grind. Isbell and the 400 Unit, which also features bassist Jimbo Hart, guitarist Sadler Vaden and keyboardist Derry deBorja, have covered 1971 Stones classic “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’” previously and “This Ain’t It” feels like Isbell’s version – down to the jammy, mid-song interlude.

“I got to play congas on that,” Gamble says with a chuckle of “This Ain’t It,” “and Jason Isbell doesn’t have congas in his songs – and it was his idea. It reminded of me in my younger days, playing in bands in Tuscaloosa [where Gamble attended the University of Alabama and played in various jam and blues bands]. That summer feel to it, you know? It just came out as a jam. That’s another thing that doesn’t happen on Isbell records, the lengthy jams.”

The album ends with “Miles,” a seven-minute swayer that sounds like Neil Young and Crazy Horse being swarmed by The Byrds and eventually Ringo Starr tom-tom fills. “Miles” is one of Gamble’s favorite tracks on the album. In the studio, they set up two different drumkits, one with a bigger sound and one tighter. On “Miles,” Gamble laid down the basic track on one kit and added his Ringo fills on the other later.

Lyrically, Gamble’s favorite “Weathervanes” track is mediative strummer “Cast Iron Skillet.” (Those lyrics include the passage, “He was sweet and soft. Shied away from the inside fastballs and died doing life without parole.”) Gamble says, “Jason always has a song that’s going to bring some tears out on the records. In the past, he could kind of judge how effective they are by looking over at me when he’s going over them for the first time.”

Growing up in Tuscumbia, Gamble started playing drums around the age of 4. His first kit was a Muppets-themed set and the first song he can recall playing along to was The Beach Boys’ dreamy “In My Room.” As he progressed, he found inspiration from drummers like jazzer Art Blakey, the Allman Brothers’ Butch Trucks and Jaimoe Johanson, and The Band’s Levon Helm. Six or so years ago, Gamble became an endorser of Gretsch Drums, putting him in the company of Stones drummer Charlie Watts and the Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins. Gamble calls signing with Gretsch “a defining moment” for him.

Gamble has provided beats for Isbell’s songs since back when they played venues so small, he’d sometimes have to pare his kit down to just snare, kick-drum and high-hat. Bassist Jimbo Hart’s been with Isbell a couple years longer. In fact, Hart’s first gig with Isbell took place at a Chattanooga fried chicken restaurant.

Especially in the live context, which finds Isbell and the 400 Unit often taking flight in Allmans-type guitar discussions between Isbell and Sadler Vaden, Gamble and Hart’s rhythm role is especially pronounced. “It didn’t take us long to really gel. And we’ve done gigs outside of this band, you know, sessions and gigs back home [in Alabama’s musically fertile Muscle Shoals area, where Isbell, now a longtime Nashville resident, formerly resided.] Jimbo’s just the sweetest guy and at the same time just a monster on the bass. It’s one of those things where you feel like you’ve got a brother in music and in life.”

Gamble has a real brother too, who also a brother in music for him. Al Gamble’s a deft keyboardist with St. Paul & The Broken Bones, the Birmingham R&B band whose fans include Elton John and The Rolling Stones. Before “making it” with separate projects, Al and Chad paid dues together in their own Gamble Brothers regionally touring group.

For each of them finding success later, although apart, Chad says, “is pretty sweet. There’s no competition or anything like that. We’re both really satisfied with where we are and what we’re doing.” While Gamble says it would be great to work with his brother all the time, “it’s also great to not work with each other. It makes every time we see each other special. We just spent the weekend together at the lake in Muscle Shoals.”

Recently, Hart announced via his Twitter account he was stepping away from Isbell’s band briefly. Hart tweeted, “Hey y’all, you won’t see me for the first week of this next tour. I’m taking some time to take care of my mental health and resolve some old-school traumas. Thank you, Jason Isbell for giving me the grace and space to allow this process.”

During Hart’s brief hiatus, Australian-born and Los Angeles-based musician Anna Butterss (yes, two Ss) will be filling in on bass with Isbell and the 400 Unit. Butterss has previous toured and/or recorded with the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, Jenny Lewis and Bright Eyes. After our interview, Gamble would be rehearsing with Butterss for the first time, for a couple days of full-band tour rehearsals. Isbell shares a Nashville storage and rehearsal space with a couple other acts.

There’s another new piece for the tour supporting the “Weathervanes” album. Isbell is augmenting the 400 Unit with a touring musician, Will Johnson, who was frontman of the defunct Texas band Centro-Matic. With Isbell, Johnson will serve as a multi-instrumentalist. He’ll play some guitar, backing vocals, percussion and even full drums There will be a second drumkit set up onstage on this Isbell tour. “So yeah, we’ve got yet another member of the 400 Unit,” Gamble says.

As Isbell’s star has ascended and his songwriter rep increased, he’s also subtle scaled up his live show’s production. The latest tour production calls to mind Pink Floyd’s dramatic late ‘80s lighting. “He was hell bent to have some lasers and now he’s got them,” Gamble says with a smile. Then, more seriously, he discusses the importance of giving Isbell and the 400 Unit’s increasing audiences something cool to look at as well as cool music to listen to. “It’s something that he always has in the back of his mind,” Gamble says. “Which next step he wants to take.”

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