In certain respects, The Simple Truth is Jeff Austin’s prison break from the world of traditional string music. Released just a few months after parting ways with his longtime jamgrass band Yonder Mountain String Band, The Simple Truth goes where few bluegrass mandolin players have gone before—and back again. Just as there are echoes of Bill Monroe and Sam Bush, it’s actually Bruce Springsteen and Elton John melodies that whisper sweet nothings in the listener’s ear during the album’s strong opening sequence. And Austin knows how to write a hook just as easily as he knows how to stomp out a breakdown. Given Austin’s history of collaboration, The Simple Truth’s guest list is impressive if not surprising: Umphrey’s McGee’s Brendan Bayliss, Trey Anastasio Band’s Jennifer Hartswick, Hard Working Americans’ Todd Snider and Sarah Siskind. But it is the cohesion within the framework of the album, even as it jumps ship from one genre to the next, that makes The Simple Truth primed for repeat listens. Before the ride comes to a complete stop, you can be sure that Austin revisits the Yonder Mountain back roads that took him to peaks so high that he can now employ revered players like Danny Barnes and the North Mississippi Allstars’ Cody Dickinson in his group and still get away with calling it a solo band. It both is and it isn’t. The Simple Truth is that Austin’s high, lonesome sound just ain’t that lonesome anymore.