Here We Rest

As illustrated by the quiet, simple devastation of its opener—the sorrowful, hard-living vignette “Alabama Pines”—Jason Isbell is on top of his narrative game on his third album. *Here We Rest* collects stories of the beat-down and forgotten, like the lovers ravaged by opiates on the swaying country track “Codeine,” or a woman visiting her long-lost dad on the driving “Stopping By.” “Tour of Duty” ends things with an upbeat, folky shuffle, though, as a war vet returns home.

Former Drive-By Truckers member releases another spotty set of songs aiming to capture the spirit and pace of life in the New New South.

For Jason Isbell fans who have missed the grit and storytelling acumen the singer-songwriter once brought to Drive-By Truckers, much of his Here We Rest will be as welcome as a long-lost childhood buddy turning up late one night with a cold six-pack. On “Codeine,” a sad-eyed country shuffle about a drugged-out barfly,…

Like the two albums before it, Here We Rest shines a light on Jason Isbell’s softer side, illuminating the sad-faced country tunes and bluesy ballads that rarely popped up during his time with Drive-By Truckers.

The album loses entirely too many of the elements that made the singer-songwriter such a singular Southern artist.