Singer-songwriter Jerry Giddens wouldn’t be the first West Coast musician to return to Louisiana in order to get centered, and it sounds like that’s just what he’s done on Damn It Abby!, with his band Killeen Foundry.

The knock on his old band, Walking Wounded, was that their brand of politically involved, socially aware roots-rock was too relentlessly didactic, unfortunately matched by what some saw as Giddens’ overblown vocal delivery. Even for late ‘80s/early ‘90s audiences, the sincerity could be bludgeoning.

Now he’s back with a selection of quiet folkish ruminations, helped along by atmospheric guitar work from the Iguanas’ own Rod Hodges, and while his sonic thumbprint hasn’t changed all that much, the new, lighter touch has brings a more personal cast to his observations.

For some folks, going small is the best way to get real, and his emotional scope isn’t narrower, just more precise. Using Kid Ory as a gateway to a memory he never had, or bidding a fisherman’s simple “Acadiana Farewell” to his lover, or performing a near-autopsy on a loved one in “Shame Is Crying”—these are the little moments where the feeling hits hardest.

Ideology is one thing, as is volume, but the painterly approach Giddens is taking these days is bringing forth the kind of truths that are impossible to ignore.