Beginning with his stint in Drive-By Truckers, Jason Isbell has spilled out his heart in stirring sketches of Southern life and romance. Here, he gets even deeper and darker, his vocals coated in grit over buzzing guitars on doomed-love tale "Flying over Water," infused with Tom Petty-like twang on small-town lament "In a Razor Town," and backed by The 400 Unit's bluesy shuffle on road-weary confession "The Blue."