Singer/songwriter Damien Jurado knows just how to turn the knife with his music and storytelling, using humble folk arrangements to tell tales that are frequently heartbreaking in their twists and turns.

“Ohio” quickly sets the stage for his sophomore album, and starts off like any other homespun ballad, with Jurado’s protagonist in love with a woman who has a tragic life story; she was kidnapped and longs to be back with her mother.

The song’s final lines — “I’ve gotten to know her, to live with, to love her/It’s hard to see her leave/She belongs to her mother and the state of Ohio/I wish she belonged to me” — are made all the more devastating by Jurado’s plaintive and understated delivery.