"I used to play in a band called Miracle of '86, a Replacements-ish, kind of screamy rock thing," he says. "And I dug it, but I was also writing these folkie songs that weren't really going to fly in that band, so I started to make this other thing. And both of them were doing well, and that was a really cool period of time. Split the Country was done after the band broke up, like the hangover from that. It was more bi-polar Ð aggressive rock songs with fuller instrumentation, but also songs with violins and glockenspiel or just a guy with a guitar. Now this record feels like all of that smashed together, but all built around songs written on an acoustic guitar, and it seems to flow in a more cohesive way."

Following a break-through performance at the CMJ music festival, Devine began the process of recording an album with more time to work, a bigger budget, and an outside producer. Not just any outside producer, either. "I'm a huge fan of a lot of the stuff Rob has worked on," says Devine. "I mean, Elliott Smith - a really brilliant, gifted, singular voice who changed the way I look at writing music profoundly. Working with Rob was amazing, one of those experiences that I'll be fifty before I'll be able to fully process. I made a friend, and that's what you do this for."

Devine realised he wanted to open the album with the confessional 'Brooklyn Boy': "I was trying to figure out a way to be unflinching about some of the experiences I had, friendships that dissolved and my role in that," he says. "After that, it moves almost chronologically to the last song, 'Heaven Bound & Glory Be,' which is about someone looking around and taking stock and being really afraid of what their government is up to - that if there's a breakdown of civility in government, it trickles down to everyday life. That song ends with cautious optimism, trying to find something in the most basic level of relating to one other person."

In the last few years, Kevin Devine has toured extensively alongside a wide range of artists, building up his own following in the process. This work demonstrates the widespread appeal and breadth of his songs Ð the potential now being focused and realized on Put Your Ghost to Rest. This stage experience has also helped reshape some of his thinking: "Coming up in the hardcore scene in Staten Island, where I grew up, we always cultivated a real us-against-them thing and I've learned that's really narrow and defeatist. I learned that I can go and play with these different kinds of people - with Corinne Bailey Rae, Tom McCrae or Cursive and Bright Eyes - and I'm lucky I can do that. You just do your thing, present yourself your way, and you'll be fine."

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