Review Summary: The love songs all mean different things today
It’s pretty rare for an artist to give listeners something truly
new nine albums in, but that’s what Jason Isbell provides us with
Foxes in the Snow. Previous works since the Drive-By Truckers days has appeared variously under the “Jason Isbell” or “Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit” moniker, the latter acknowledging his longtime backing band, but even his ostensibly solo efforts during this stretch have featured a bevy of contributors, resulting in a richly textured country rock sound. This tradition is now severed - all eleven songs here see Isbell going truly solo, a lone man with a voice and an acoustic guitar. The results showcase the enduring appeal of Isbell’s thoughtful storytelling, skilled picking, and shrewd songwriting, even if the lack of musical oomph is sometimes a detraction.
I’d that thought
Foxes in the Snow might see Isbell dive into political themes in much the same way 2017’s
The Nashville Sound did so successfully. After all, the latter release was a vehicle for the singer-songwriter to express the dismay and horror he felt regarding the state of his homeland in the aftermath of Trump’s first election. With the country’s future looking increasingly catastrophic after the return to power of a figure Isbell undoubtedly reviles, it might be expected that he’d wrangle those impassioned feelings on the perilous state of our society into song once more, but that’s not the case here. Instead,
Foxes in the Snow is essentially about one thing and one thing only -
love - its torrid beginnings, the emotions it stirs up and leaves behind, the harrowing feeling of its loss.
Perhaps this focus isn’t surprising, given Isbell’s recent divorce from longtime partner Amanda Shires. That said, this isn’t a “divorce album” in the conventional sense - while there are plenty of poignant moments expressing heartbreak throughout the tracklist, and “True Believer” feels like a eulogy to the marriage, there are also numerous tunes which express romantic hope and devotion rather than the sorrows of love affair’s aftermath.
The quality level here is high - opener “Bury Me’ is a country classic, catchy and gruffly emotive, “Gravelweed” is a tough listen but quite powerful, “Don’t Be Tough” sees Isbell pull off his best Merle Haggard impression, and the aforementioned “True Believer” manages to combine a visceral and ragged sense of relationship-ending sorrow (“
all your girlfriends say I broke your ***ing heart”) with a touching sentimentality (“
when we pass on the highway I’ll smile and wave, I’ll always be a true believer, babe”). Ultimately, though, what holds this album back from matching the level of his best work is the same thing which differentiates it from his previous output - the one-note nature of its presentation. Isbell proves once more that he’s among the finest songwriters of the era, and as such is able to carry the album all by himself, but there are undoubtedly stretches in which a fuller country rock sound could have elevated the material even further. Regardless, this is a fine release with great emotional depth, and its oft-haunted tone is given a perfect kiss-off with the final track, which can only be described as
pure - a loving ode built upon classic country song imagery. It’s as simple as it is beautiful, and serves as a perfect reminder that while I hope Isbell goes back to a more collaborative approach in future endeavors, even on his own the end results can be truly stunning.
