It’s not just my story.” The process of writing the album was revelatory for Russell, who noted that “It was this awakening, to reclaim a part of yourself that has been just about pain and shame and misery.” Russell had hinted at the physical, mental and sexual abuse she had suffered when she was younger in some of her previous songs, including "Part Time Poppa" and "Corner Talk" from Po' Girl's 2004 Vagabond Lullabies album.

After finding out that her niece and nephew would be moving in with her mother and stepfather, Russell filed rape and assault charges against her adoptive father despite knowing how unlikely it would be that he would be convicted.

When other women substantiated Russell's allegations, her stepfather pled guilty, receiving only a three-year sentence with a chance of parole, leading Po' Girl to release the track "No Shame" in 2009.

It’s really beautiful to watch her come to this place where she’s like, now’s the time.” The album was recorded during Americanafest in September 2019, where Russell was able to invite Yola and The McCrary Sisters to provide guest vocals.

She noted that, once she had assembled her team of collaborators, she was able to stand back and allow the music to flow, stating “it was really a matter of casting the room and then letting people shine the way they do”.

[5] Carlile called Fantasy Records, with whom she had a working relationship following her production of While I'm Livin' by Tanya Tucker, and played them Outside Child which resulted in them signing Russell and releasing the album.

I got to hear Oscar Peterson play for free in the park during Jazz Fest… I was very lucky to grow up there.” The album's first single, "Nightflyer" was inspired by an ancient Gnostic poem titled "The Thunder, Perfect Mind", which Russell read when she was sixteen, noting that “it’s an exhortatory poem discovered among the Gnostic manuscripts in the Nag Hammadi library in the 40’s.

"Persephone", named after the Greek mythological figure, details Russell's relationship with a young woman during her teenage years who offered refuge, solace and a brief respite from the abusive life she was experiencing at home.

[8] Russell described the album's fifth track, "The Runner", which features her “chosen sister” Yola on harmony vocals, as a song “about music saving my life and setting me on the path to healing and freedom”.

The track features harmony vocals from renowned gospel group The McCrary Sisters, who represent the security provided by supportive women that Russell did not have as a child but has gained as an adult.

"Poison Arrow", the album's ninth track, has been described as “the candid confessions of a woman who's gone through many hellish experiences and come through it with uncommon grace”.

[10] The album's closing track, "Joyful Motherfuckers", is a duet between Russell and her husband JT Nero and a cathartic track offering a prayer of forgiveness for her father’s brutality and a hymn to the soothing love of her spouse and extended family, with the pair singing of “hopeful sinners, true forgivers, the courageous, and the lovers — shouting out loud for all to hear the power of love to conquer hate”.

The music has been described as “lustrous and diverse, from the churning minor-key rock of "The Runner" to the eerie, feedback-edged “Hy Brasil” to "The Hunters", which has a hint of Caribbean lilt”, the “gospel-y "Nightflyter"” and the “country-tinged "Persephone"”.

With 2021 not yet at the halfway point, it’s hard to imagine many other albums coming along that could match the combination of emotional potency, melodic fluency, social significance and heartrending beauty in Russell’s retelling of a lifetime’s worth of debasement and self-reclamation.

Willman praised Outside Child for the “unsentimental uplift infused throughout” and “smart musical choices”, summarizing that “Russell, her co-writer/husband JT Nero and producer Dan Knobler employ a variety of styles and moods that make the album feel like a 50-minute epic journey with lots of small salvations and micro-empowerments on the way to a well-healed close” and praising the sonic mix of genres.