Hard Settle, Aint Troubled

Donovan Woods sure knows his way around a heartbreaking line. On his fourth album, he skillfully weaves narratives of relationship drama (“On the Nights You Stay Home”), erasing painful memories (“We Never Met”), and growing up and out of your peer group (“My Good Friends”). Using stripped-back instrumentation—an acoustic guitar, a piano, some lonesome strings—Woods puts his poignant songwriting front and center. “They Don’t Make Anything in That Town” provides the devastating centerpiece, with a stark, piano-led reflection on the disintegration of the narrator’s hometown.

Forget coastal rap beefs; bitter feuds between pop divas; or rock'n'roll's most infamous sibling rivalries. Despite what you may assume, mus...