OUTSTANDING IN THEIR FIELD. Singer-songwriter Todd Barneson (third from left) began writing his new album Lay Low upon moving back to Eau Claire, tapping a slew of local musicians.

There’s a long, eventful 15-year stretch separating Todd Barneson’s first solo record and his upcoming sophomore joint Lay Low.

Not long after the prior’s release, the singin’-songwritin’ Eau Claire veteran married and found himself skipping town for Philadelphia – leaving the original sound in the dust without much of a second thought. Post-transition, Barneson kept busy playing with a slew of new musicians; even forming a group of his own named The Low Lands for the sake of bluegrass tunes.

 Writing for Lay Low began as soon as Barneson returned to the city of bridges, with a sound “not very similar to the first record he wrote.” But he admits that was 2000 and this is now. A Lyle Lovett /John Prine-esque focus is his latest direction.

Barneson steers clear of overly ambitious concepts, instead shooting for no-nonsense, bare-bones approach with crispy clean production from of a pair of his former Philadelphia bandmates Ben Arnold and Matt Muir.

“It’s folky; country,” he said. “We’re not going for anything too crazy in terms of arrangements, it’s just kind of straight up.”

Lay Low packs nine swinging, bluesy toe-tappers with harmonious elements echoing The Rattlenecks, a group Barneson fronts with members who also back his solo band like Davy Sumner and Ethan Schmidt.

Loose ends and wishful could’ve/should’ves regarding past relationships like “I guess I should’ve chased you down / drove my car all over town” line the record, making its upcoming release a sort of satisfying closure. 

“I’ve been working with this stuff for a long time. It’s something I just felt I needed to complete,” Barneson said. “I don’t know if that’s a vanity thing or not, but I don’t think so.”

Lay Low’s recording occurred back in Philadelphia, despite citing his great relationships with Eau Claire studios such as Pine Hollow. On top of landing an excuse to take a nice vacation, Barneson said recording with musicians he’s grown acclimated with made sense, so as to stay true to the sound he’d developed out east.

Barneson lists Ben Arnold as one of his personal favorite songwriters, and said he knew he’d have a great vision about where the record needed to go sonically.

“I came to a point where I had some halfway decent ideas that I needed to see through, so I sent them to him and we probably co-wrote five of the songs on the record,” Barneson said.

To Barneson, returning to Eau Claire’s music scene proved to be something of a minor culture shock.

“It’s talented as ever, but smaller. ...There doesn’t seem to be as many people at shows any more, but maybe that’s just because all my friends are married with kids nowadays,” he said with a laugh.

One constant he’s continually admired about his Midwest come-up, though, is Volume One’s Sounds Like Summer concert series; you can catch Barneson and the boys fresh off his Lay Low release at the June 18 slot.

Todd Barneson’s Lay Low is set to release June 13 with a celebration at the House of Rock at 8pm. A stacked bill of The Rattlenecks, The Jim Pullman Band, and Kevin Hanson are supporting.