No matter how unique and clever you think your idea is, somebody somewhere else has also thought of it… I have Doppelganger I did not see coming: Kyle Jennings in Honky Tonk Rome, doing as the Honky Tonk Romans do.

It is time to say goodbye to all the promo from my previous, dozenth album, The Beast Is Back… It’s tough to make sense out of promo hype. They want you to list your influences, but after 30 years in the Biz, you don’t have influences anymore, just the work itself. “Influences” are now “Colleagues.”

I experienced one of my most prolific songwriting stretches. I was in my mid-30’s, enjoying a confluence of skill, passion, and discipline. (Such is common for people at that age. The New-Agers, mystics, and other knowers-of-things call it “Saturn-Returning.”) …The only unusual thing about these songs is that there are 31 of them in the same package.

Bringing Pollyanna and Cassandra together has not been easy. This is not a match made in Heaven. Limited time, limited resources, limited equipment, and unlimited naiveté. But true love is stubborn.