It’s rare that an album title so accurately reflects the songs within it. But Life Behind Bars is one of those titles. The collection of songs here gives heartfelt dialogue to The Vandoliers’ frontwoman Jenni Rose’s journey through addiction and gender dysphoria, culminating in her decision earlier this year to publicly come out and live her authentic life as a transwoman.
The ten tracks here manage to tell her remarkable story, all backed by the same country by way of punk rock soundtrack that the band has built their reputation going four records deep. From the very first lines of the opening track “Dead Canary,” Rose digs in for her most personal record yet (“I was running from my shadow/Tried to hide it, but it followed/It found me lying on…