I feel like I should say up front that this episode's going to be a little different

than what we usually do. So if this is the very first time you've ever heard this show,

you might want to move

to another episode and try that first. This episode is meant to be a preview or a companion

piece to my new record Mount Renraw. I'm going to tell some stories about some of the songs

on that record and then I'm going to play some of the songs for you. This show will be

published on the exact same day that the record will be released. So when you hear

this it'll be available everywhere in the world. I guess I should start out by

saying that I recently celebrated my 50th birthday. When it was coming up my

buddies kept telling me you should do something special, something to commemorate it.

And I quickly realized their idea of me doing something special meant I should throw a party,

and they can get drunk, and I can sit up all night listening to them talk to me while they're drunk.

And that didn't sound very fun or very special to me.

But I did want to commemorate it.

And I wasn't really sure how, but I thought about it.

I thought I've been lucky enough to lead a creative life.

So I thought about it, and I called it my buddy Tom Uyts.

And Tom brought a whole lot of gear recording equipment over to my living room.

And we recorded an album on my 50th over to my living room and we recorded an album on

my 50th birthday in my living room. It seemed like a pretty fitting way to mark 50 years of leading

a creative life. We had a blast. It was really, really fun and it was really easy. This

album features me on guitar and vocal, Tom Yutz on guitar, and Justin Moses playing some beautiful fiddle.

...