But Dave [Cobb], the producer, and I both sort of got bored with that idea and we decided to bring a band in for some things.

"[17] The 400 Unit band members Chad Gamble and Derry deBorja appear on drums and keyboards, respectively.

I had moved from Muscle Shoals to Nashville – almost a year ago now — and it struck me that, at this point in my life, I don't have any interest in living in any other part of the country or the world, really.

"[17] The album's fourth track, "Elephant", focuses upon cancer, with Isbell stating: "It's something that everyone has had an experience with, or they will have.

Thematically, it’s important to represent the humor in addiction and recovery, and the humor that happens when you open yourself up and make yourself vulnerable to the people that you care about — and to your audience.”[22] The track "Yvette", which deals with sexual abuse, is a companion piece to the track, "Daisy Mae", on Isbell's previous studio album, Here We Rest (2011).

He notes, "I got to a point, I guess when I was probably thirty, or thirty-one years old, where it occurred to me almost everyone you meet was sexually abused as a kid, almost everybody, by someone.

That never happened to me, believe it or not, but the percentages are just staggering, and writing a song about something that's that depressing I think it's good to discuss it.