Andrew Osenga / The Painted Desert

I remember the first time I emailed Andy about the gear he and Mark Lockett were using on The Normals tour. A few years later, we had the chance to sit down after a Caedmon's show (our first time to meet in person), and he listened to me like an older brother for hours. And every few years since, we've found ways to work together and share life together. He's let me into his community and into his family, and for that, I'm incredibly grateful.

In 2012, on a cold winter morning, Neil Sandoz and I traveled to Nashville to see a man in a spaceship. Leonard, The Lonely Astronaut was written and recorded in a spaceship built into the storage building of Baja Burrito. Being part of that album was and is to this date one of the most rewarding projects of my career.

Today, Andy announced his newest album, The Painted Desert, and it has brought me to tears numerous times. It's an album of stories from Andy's life, but it feels as though he has been a fly on the wall in my own life writing what he sees. As Andrew Peterson says, "music is magic," and I am grateful for that magic.

For the art direction on this album, we wanted to evoke the feeling of the old Americana westerns, but we didn't want the album to feel inauthentic either. Andy has a friend that lives in The Painted Desert (El Desierto Pintado) and loves and serves the Native Americans there. When the album title came to mind, I immediately began thinking of ways we could get Andy out there for a photoshoot, but when that just wasn't a possibility, Andy reached out to Joe Cook to capture as many photos as he could from his phone. The end result is a design that I hope feels as timeless as the songs he wrote for this album.

You can pre-order the album now via Kickstarter here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andrewosenga/the-painted-desert-a-new-album-by-andrew-osenga?ref=d9g0wu&token=7a161d31

🏜️

Let’s create something great together.
studio@mcnair.haus

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