Elisabeth is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Zach Bryan, released on May 8, 2020, through Belting Bronco. Bryan recorded the album himself using his laptop in a barn behind his house,[1] and its release was preceded by the single "Heading South".
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic felt that the album "resembles DeAnn in many ways", primarily with its "sparse instrumentation: while Bryan has provided some slight rhythmic textures and colors on the margin, Elisabeth still feels like a solo affair, a record where he's been caught strumming away in his bedroom". Erlewine likened listening to the album is "like eavesdropping on your melancholy neighbor strumming out his soul in the wee hours of the morning".[2] A staff reviewer from Sputnikmusic described Bryan as "the less is more axiom personified, and when it comes to authenticity, he's the real deal", also finding that the album is not "designed to captivate. It's foggy, lo-fi, and predominantly acoustic. There are times when you'll have to fight through the bedroom production to get at the heart of a song [...] but one worth waging for the few who have the patience to endure eighteen straight acoustic Americana ballads".[1]
Upon release, the album charted on the Heatseekers Albums chart,[3] charting widely in 2023 following the increase in Bryan's profile after his chart successes with his 2022 album American Heartbreak and its accompanying single "Something in the Orange".
In 2022, Bryan removed the songs "Anita, Pt. 2" and "Elisabeth" from streaming services, stating "These songs bring me more pain and heartache than I'm willing to admit and I took these songs off there personally, because they are not my stories to tell anymore."[4]
