The former Drive-By Trucker goes solo with a rootsy, country-rocking long-player that's loaded with more hooks than a redneck's tackle box. "Brand New Kind of Actress" kicks off Sirens of the Ditch with a Crazy Horse guitar crunch, grinding Hammond organ and contagious handclaps. The spirit of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, reverberates heavily here (with a little help from the legendary Spooner Oldham), especially on the swampy and soulful "Down In A Hole." Isbell strums the patriotic heartstrings on "Dress Blues," a pedal steel-laden ballad about a friend who died while serving in Iraq.