She has reached the dangerous point where the bourbon is honest and everyone in the room thinks the song is about them. It is not—but Bourbon and Blue is gracious enough to let each guilty party wonder.

The blues has always known that sorrow and pleasure are not opposites. They sit at the same table, borrow from the same bottle, and occasionally finish each other’s sentences. She is not singing because life broke her; she is singing because it failed to keep her quiet.