Consumer Guide Album

Jason Isbell: Foxes in the Snow [Southeastern, 2025]
Formally, if this isn't a folk record then it's an unaccompanied singer-songwriter record—in the old days the two were synonymous. But given his deep connection to the Drive-By Truckers, Isbell's picking has a way of making you anticipate a rousing chorus that never comes to pass, an observation I see I'm making on the very day he's scheduled to join his own 400 Unit band in hard-rocking Saskatchewan. My preference for this voice-plus-acoustic iteration no doubt reflects my enthusiasm for the kind of thoughtful love songs many guys never come up with one of and all of these tracks qualify as. I mean, he wrote the eternal "Outfit" and put his back into the pro-Dem Georgia Blue, so give him credit for not just respecting but welcoming the impressive array of female charm, substance, and erotic allure these songs address. From "Last time I tried this sober I was 17" to "I wasn't even fishing when I caught you," I respect him enough to believe his heart's in the right place and like him enough to hope the rest of him settles down there. A−