APRIL 3, 2026

Ring-A-Bellin'

“I’d been thinking about making another solo record for some time, something sonically and thematically different from what I’d done before, different in instrumentation and approach to recording as well. 

I wanted to start recording every song with the smallest musical unit appropriate to the song and only add what felt necessary and relevant, keeping everything in the realm of acoustic instruments. Some songs started and ended with just me singing and playing, others with me and bass player extraordinaire Mark Fain, or as a trio with Tim O’Brien and Michael Rinne. All the main ingredients are live, especially all the lead vocals. 

It was extremely liberating to record like this, in the moment, with almost no premeditation, no direction to the players, not even much, or any, direction to myself. It felt immensely freeing to my guitar playing and reconnected me with an energy I wasn’t sure I still had. It takes players that you trust 100% to record like that, like all the players on this album - and engineers like my old friend Andy Kern, and my new friend Finn Goodwin-Bain, who are willing to move fast and with confidence to capture the moment.” 
 

For those wanting to dive even deeper into the process behind this new release, a beautiful, hardback Ring-A-Bellin’ companion book includes the stories and inspiration behind each song in what amounts to one of the greatest album inserts you’ll find.

Treasures From The Demo Safe 2024

ONLY AVAILABLE ON STREAMING

I am aware that the title “Treasures from the Demo Safe” may come off as somewhat presumptuous. My intention is not to declare my songs as treasures of the world, rather they are treasures to me. I remember when I wrote them, the joy that came from writing with my friends, the joy of undisturbed hours in the studio, recording by myself - the joy of creating.

I like the somewhat off-handed quality of these performances because the recordings were originally not intended to be released, so there was no pressure to make something great or unusual, and the music is better off for that. Not everything is perfectly in tune or time, there might be a little glitch here or there, I might have had to move the lyric sheet while recording or move because my foot fell asleep. My favorite music was recorded like that, all the great country and blues music from the 1920s and 1930s.

A lot of these songs here live in that time, musically and lyrically.