Breakup albums are a long-standing tradition among singer/songwriters in both country and rock, and when someone with a notable musical reputation announces they're splitting up with their partner, it's hard not to look for hints of what went wrong in their next batch of songs.
Jason Isbell
and
Amanda Shires
became alt-country's leading power couple when they married in 2013, and both of their careers would skyrocket in the ten years that followed. In 2023, HBO aired a documentary, Jason Isbell: Running with Our Eyes Closed, that, among other things, followed
Isbell
Shires
as they struggled through a rough patch in their marriage. While the film tried to put a hopeful spin on their troubles, by the end of that year
filed for divorce, and his 2025 album
Foxes in the Snow
was a spare, acoustic effort full of mournful songs about faded love and more optimistic tunes about new beginnings. If anyone was wondering how
felt about the split, she's issued a stunningly blunt song cycle about the breakup and its consequences, 2025's
Nobody's Girl
. To say
isn't happy about the public perception of their divorce crashes the boundaries of understatement; the song "Piece of Mind" begins with the words "If you think I could ever hate you, you're wrong/But that was a real f-ed up way to leave," and that's far from the bitterest bit of wordplay here. (Other complaints range from his lack of gratitude and commitment in the wake of her successful intervention that saved his life and career to her contention that he's a slob who never picks up the towels.) It's hard not to see
as the villain in
, though
' bile seems less about bad-mouthing her ex than putting her side of a rather public breakup on the record.
is her story, her memoir of an agonizing period in her life, and she's not afraid to tell it.
uses her anger, hurt, and wounded pride to fuel a lot of soul searching that's bold, literate, and deeply felt.
Lawrence Rothman
, who produced
' excellent 2022 effort
Take It Like a Man
, also helped her record
, and while it lacks the eclecticism of the former LP, this has a tighter focus and
and her accompanists have given these songs thoughtful, muscular music just as powerful as the words. Whether
is a nice guy (as he's generally perceived) or a real bastard isn't the point of
-- these songs are here to tell us
' memories and feelings are just as important as anyone's, and it's her duty to herself to tell the world the details of these scenes from a marriage, both as art and as a public act of healing.
is sometimes tough to listen to as
pulls no lyrical punches, but it's never less than compelling, fearless, and brilliantly crafted. As an act of musical exorcism, it's breathtaking. ~ Mark Deming