Jason Isbell told Apple Music in a recent interview, “These songs and the way the record sounds reflects something that was my intention 15 or 12 years ago, but I just didn’t have the ability and the focus and the means to get there as a songwriter or a recording artist.” Isbell has been open about his struggles with alcohol, and he is likely referring to this in that quote. This album is a triumph, not just musically, but through Isbell’s sobriety, he is able to create to his potential. As he says on “Easier”, “it gets easier but it never gets easy.”