Guest musicians on the album include Howe Gelb, Kelly Hogan, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Joey Burns, John Convertino, and Dallas Good.

AllMusic's Mark Deming wrote that it contained "some of her finest and most insightful performances to date", as well as noting her progressions as a lyricist and composer.

[4] Eric Carr for Pitchfork echoed this, dubbing her vocals "dense with emotional heft and more richly expressive" than her previous work in power pop collective The New Pornographers.

[9] Blacklisted has continually earned praise in recent years, with critics applauding the results that came from Case's then-newfound artistic control.

"[14] In another retrospective review, Stereogum's Rachel Brodsky saw it announce Case "forging her own country-noir sound", noting its "then-new" qualities such as "pioneering" genre fusion and more.