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Photo by Josefine Cardoni

Losing something — or someone — can feel catastrophic, but there’s always something to gain in the end. On Anna Shoemaker’s third studio album Back to Pennsylvania, she grapples with letting go, and discovers something greater in the wreckage. 

The album was written following Shoemaker’s return to her hometown, moving back in with her parents in Pennsylvania. By looking backwards, the singer-songwriter figured out how to move forward, turning her inner turmoil into a collection of songs that tackle all the messiest parts of growing up. 

“Back to Pennsylvania feels a bit like the calm after a storm,” Shoemaker said in a statement. “It’s about reconnecting with yourself and getting back to your roots (in my case, going home to PA). I didn’t plan on losing everything, you’re never planning for the ship to sink” is one of my favorite lines from the title track. The album is about what happens after the wreck — when you’re left gathering the pieces and trying to find your way back to yourself.”

The title track is a jaunty, country-inspired track where Shoemaker declares, “I’m going back to where I came from // back to Pennsylvania // I thought that I could come and save you // like an angel in a graveyard,” before telling her partner, “Thank God you never cared for anything.”

That feeling of ambivalence in a relationship is a running theme on the album, whether it’s “Counting,” where Shoemaker admits that counting on her on-again-off-again lover is “too damn hard, or “Dying on Your Hill” — “You can’t lose it if you never had it,” the artist wryly sings. 

Back to Pennsylvania has a country sound, with each track driven by acoustic guitar, steady drumbeats, and plaintive vocals. That influence extends to the songwriting; specifically on “Already Low,” where Shoemaker lists off reminders of a lost love — cigarettes left in a pocket, a note left in a book — and states her intention to not “get high // ‘cause I know where I’ll go // and I’m already low.”

The album ends on a high note with “Love Me Back.” While many of the tracks share anxieties and sadness, this song is a sweet, breezy declaration of feeling safe in a relationship. “You don’t have to take it slow,” Shoemaker tells her lover. “You just have to love me back.”

On Back to Pennsylvania, Shoemaker proves that old adage false; you can go home again — and you might just learn something about yourself while you’re there. 

Listen to Back to Pennsylvania below: