The first co-headlining bill featuring Father John Misty and Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit kicks off June 6 at SDSU’s Open Air Theatre. 37 year-old Maryland songsmith Misty, aka Josh Tillman, is still banging the drums for last year’s God’s Favorite Customer, his fourth full-length as Father John (after recording several albums between 2003 and 2010 as J. Tillman). That album, his second in two years (following 2017’s Pure Comedy), became a nearly required entry on well over a dozen “Best of 2018” polls at Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Stereogum, NME, and even NPR and Esquire. It doesn’t hurt that the record included ink-friendly collaborators such as Weyes Blood and Mark Ronson, but the real attraction is Misty’s Lennonesque confessionals, including/especially the self-titled self-referential track “Mr. Tillman” (which the original accidental Apple stream of the album had titled as “Mr. Tillman, Please Exit the Lobby”).

Four-time Grammy winners Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit have two recent releases to support; The Nashville Sound, which spawned the Grammy-winning Best Americana Roots Song “If We Were Vampires,” and a concert album called Live From the Ryman. The bill includes 21 year-old Jade Bird, who scored two top-ten hits off last year’s Something American EP, “Lottery” and “Uh Huh.” She’ll be releasing her debut self-titled album in April, just six weeks before the San Diego show, and it’s entirely possible that, by the time she takes SDSU’s outdoor stage, she’ll be far outselling the most recent records by both featured acts.