Three full listens and it's vintage Isbell. Some of my favorites lines:
"The deepest ditches line the righteous path"
"Do you regret the things you should have said, or have you heard it all before?"
"I found the letter she wrote
Against the wall behind the bed
It said, "Forever is a dead man's joke"
And that's the only thing it said"
"I said your skins was like water and let you slip through my hands"
"I like her friends
The ones I know
They leave drops of blood like foxes in the snow
And all the beasts beneath her bed
She defeats and leaves for dead
And falls asleep inside my head
Seems so easy"
"For all the boys I could have been
All the fights I didn't win
They put me here against her skin
She can see me"
"You're like sleep, take what I can get
But I've gotta make some sense of this, so here the **** I sit
At 3 a.m., trying way too hard
To find the words to slow my sweet, addicted heart"
"You're like sleep, and the nights are adding up
Well, I wish I still smoked cigarettes and acted tough"
"Lot of dangerous memories, a lot of bars in this town
But oh, to have loved and lost and then still stuck around"
"Like the stain on your teeth, I'm as stubborn as wine
Just when you think that I'm beaten, I get up every time
So when we pass on the highway, I'll smile and I'll wave
And I'll always be a true believer, babe"
"I wasn't even fishing when I caught you,
but I always had your picture in my mind"
Coming into this album everyone wondered if he would address the divorce and I like that he's open and honest and tackling things head on. It seems like a muddied picture we may never know fact from fiction.
Between Gravelweed and Eileen he seems to take some ownership of mistakes and makes it seem like he's sorry for whatever happened.
"Open and Close" is very touching song about the vulnerability of being ready to move on and open to new love.
"Crimson And Clay" strikes me as almost a companion piece "Cast Iron Skillet". Whereas CIS addressed the dangers of growing up in a small town, CAC paints the picture of still loving and not being able to escape your home town, warts and all.
Along with Benzodiazepine and Hydrocodone, Diphenhydramine enters the triumphant of drugs names seamlessly weaved into songs.
Tracks 6-10 is a hell of a run of songs!
I also appreciate the detail Isbell puts in his vinyl releases. They come in a nice outer sleeve to reuse for storage, a nice rice paper inner sleeve as well, and the materials are always top notch.
