Sad Songs for the Soul

Forget chicken soup. Kameron Marlowe has a foolproof remedy for a heavy heart: sad music. On this third studio album from the rising country singer-songwriter, Marlowe goes for broke on 10 tracks chronicling heartache and regret, showing more of the softer side fans glimpsed on earlier cuts like 2022 favorite “Giving You Up.” The record opens with the loose and raw “Burning House,” a cover of the 2015 Cam hit that makes evocative use of the spare, stripped-down production that characterizes the project. “Hello Whiskey” takes that sound and fleshes it out with organ and piano for a twangy, tearful song befitting of last call at a dive bar. “The Basement” dips into swampy blues à la Eric Church, and “Highway Song” adds flourishes of gospel to one of the album’s harder-edged moments. “How’s the Leaving Going,” which he wrote alongside living legend Vince Gill, is a real standout here, as Marlowe addresses an ex-flame with a weary, winking admission of romantic regret.