Absent Fathers is the companion to Justin Townes Earle’s Single Mothers. Mothers was written from the perspective of the women who bear the brunt of male irresponsibility. Fathers looks at things through male eyes, most blinded by their lack of insight and a disregard for the pain they cause. “When the One You Love Loses Faith” is country doo-wop, the story of a lost soul that’s not trying too hard to find salvation. Earle’s vocals have a somnambulant muzziness that coveys the protagonist’s disregard for reality. “Slow Monday” uses mournful pedal steel to underline its hopeless message. “Round The Bend” picks up the tempo, but this man is standing “round the bend by a dead end sign,” an apt metaphor for the damaged people Earle profiles on this album.