Jason IsbellSoutheastern

Hushed fingerpicked guitar and Isbell's weathered baritone, like overhearing a private reckoning. "Cover Me Up" opens as an acoustic confession, then roars open on "I sobered up, I swore off that stuff, forever this time" — his sobriety and his love for Amanda Shires laid bare. "Elephant" is plainspoken and quietly gutting, a friend dying of cancer rendered in unflinching detail, while "Live Oak" tells a killer's haunted folk ballad. Written between rehab and his wedding, this is the record that turned a respected sideman into one of the decade's defining songwriters. Drop the needle and hold still.