As a tunesmith, Kelly Joe Phelps already has a proven track record, with a catalogue of original songs infused with what The Washington Post calls "poignancy, passion and spirituality." But on his sixth studio album, the Portland, Oregon-based musician still felt the need to retrofit new elements into his songwriting. "Part of it is shifting focus, away from music heavily driven by guitar to music that's more driven by the song," explains Phelps. "The record is stripped back in relation to the last two studio efforts, balancing combinations of solo, duo, trio and quartet and bridging the gap between my early solo recordings and later band outings."

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