With her first studio album since 2007's Children Running Through, Patty Griffin reflects on the impact her father—who was dying before her eyes—made on her life. Whether it's a slow, calm cover of Lefty Frizzell's honky-tonk hit "Mom and Dad's Waltz" or her own unflinching "Go Wherever You Wanna Go," Griffin elicits a natural and understated performance from her backing band, which includes Luther and Cody Dickinson of The North Mississippi All-Stars. Her creative and romantic partner, Robert Plant, contributes vocals to three tunes, including the droning blues of "Ohio," where—in a tale inspired by Toni Morrison's Beloved—runaway slaves plan a meeting that ominously might not happen. "Highway Song," "That Kind of Lonely," and "Not a Bad Man" are the sort of haunting folk-country ballads that have been Griffin's forte since her start in the Boston coffeehouses; a few simple notes dropping down the scale create an unspeakable sorrow. "Gonna Miss You When You're Gone" stirs from an old folk haze to offer words to her father, which aren't sufficient considering the size of her loss. It's heartbreaking stuff.