For the title cut of Stoughton, Massachusetts-based Lori McKenna’s forthcoming album The Balladeer, the Grammy-winning songwriter behind “Girl Crush” veers away from her usual autobiographical material for a fictional peek into the world of a musician who “hangs in the darkest bars with downtrodden bleeding-hearts.”

It’s there she encounters a guitar player who, in addition to securing her lyrical assistance, has quickly won her heart. Naturally, as a tortured artist, the balladeer fears that a happy relationship might lead to sacrificing access to the pain that has fueled her songwriting prowess — so much so that she “wore it like a queen wears a crown.” Alas, she needn’t have worried. No spoilers but for a writer whose songs have elicited nearly as many lump-in-the-throat moments as your average Nicholas Sparks novel, McKenna stays true to form.

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Rolling Stone