Greetings Darling Ones,
How are you? I’ve spent most of March hiding out from my economic anxiety and doing my best to ignore the fascist overthrow of the United States with varying degree of success.
Lately, I’ve been filling my days writing fan fiction in my head about the relationship between Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, and Anna Weyant. If you don’t know these people, that’s okay neither do I.
This fan fiction is based on Isbell’s excellent new record “Foxes in the Snow;” Shires’ last record “Take it Like a Man; the documentary “Running With Our Eyes Closed;” and things I’ve gleaned from social media.
Here’s a quick primer: Isbell and Shires were the Johnny & June of my world and when they announced their divorce in December 2023 I was heartbroken. Anna Weyant, a 30-year-old painter based in NYC, is Isbell’s new partner.
Depending on the day of the week, how much sunshine there is, and how much sleep I’ve had Isbell does not do well in the court of spinster opinion. Ovaries before Brovaries and all.
Let me restate, FITS is a beautiful record. It’s the first Isbell record I’ve truly loved in a long time. Gone is all the guitar wankery and what not. This is just Isbell’s voice and a guitar. Lovely. Lyrically it’s brilliant & brave, cliché & mean, and overall very human. What’s not to love?
In my head most of the songs are about his ex-wife and his new lover. This is where the mean and cliché come in.
“Foxes in the Snow” is a song about the new woman and it makes me cringe so hard I’m surprised I haven’t lost three inches from my height and have a permanent rictus grin. The repetition of “I love my love is ick. The line about everything putting him near her skin, the carrot and the stick. . . it’s all basic and feels a bit like it’s trying. Isbell knows how to write a love song and this ain’t it.
The two songs I really like to go back to are “Eileen” and “Gravelweed.” Boy, do they give me the thinks.
“My own behavior was a shock to me, he sings. “You should have seen this coming sooner. . . You thought the truth was just a rumor.”
In the court of Spinster Opinion I’m all, “Exactly what are you confessing to here, Mr. Isbell? what should she have seen and exactly what was the rumor? Hmmm?”
And his lawyer, Mortimer, shouts, “OBJECTION. Hearsay.”
“Gravelweed” is the knock me on my ass, infuriate me, and then begin to put me back together song.
In it Isbell sings, “I was a gravelweed, and I needed you to raise me. You couldn’t reach me once I felt like I was raised.”
This one makes me feel very fuck you, very much. Thanks for the self-reflection and all, but you see how shitty it is to require your partner and lover to raise you, right? RIGHT? That’s a lot to ask of someone who is supposed to be your equal, not your mother. It’s so selfish and then to abandon her when you gelt all grown up? Garbage.
But he gets back me with the next line, “And now that I live to see my melodies betray me, I’m sorry the love songs all mean different things today.”
Damn, the stark and beautiful honesty.
I also get pissed at the song “True Believer” with the whole All your girlfriends say I broke your fucking heart and I don’t like it.” Tough titties, friend, you don’t get to decide if you broke someone’s heart.
Like a good lawyer I’m cherry picking the lyrics to fit my argument. Like a good Gemini I’m not entirely sure what I’m arguing.
Regardless, the jury agreed unanimiously that “Foxes in the Snow” is a sparse, beautiful record worthy of the attention, argument, and thought.
You may be seated,
Honorable Judge Jodi Chromey