Sadler Vaden, member of Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit and producer for Morgan Wade, Drayton Farley, and more, has just surprise-released a new solo album, Dad Rock, via Thirty Tigers. The album features contributions from fellow musicians/dads Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers), Elliot Easton (The Cars), Julian Dorio (The Whigs, Eagles of Death Metal), Art Edmaiston (JJ Grey & Mofro), and more, and a press release notes that some of the songs were written specifically for Sadler’s sons, like “Townsend’s Theme” and “I’ll Always Come Back.”
“It’s been four years since my last album, and my wife and I have had two beautiful boys since then, which has really shifted my perspective in life and in how I write songs,” Sadler says. “These are mostly new songs but some older unreleased songs that I have a totally new connection with after becoming a father…I feel like we are experiencing a new era of Dad where you see many men really stepping up to the plate and being there for their kids and their wife more, cooking more, doing more duties around the house. It’s actually cool to be a good dad these days and I hope that’s a trend that continues.”
“I was technically only in the studio for two days, two sessions in December just days before my second son Theo was born,” he continues. “Everything else was done remotely or at my home studio when I could carve out an hour here and there. I really knew what I wanted things to sound like on this record so it was important to me to not let things get overcooked by laboring over parts and sounds too much. And also, we play close to 100 shows a year, so there’s really no time for that anyways…We mixed the record remotely with Owen Lewis using Audiomovers, which is software that you can put on the stereo output of your DAW and send someone a link so they can listen to a mix or recording session in real time. I’d be listening to the link in my AirPods while he’s mixing and I’d be changing dirty diapers or making bottles or chasing my toddler around getting ready for bedtime. Dad Rock indeed.”
Stream the album below, and happy early Father’s Day to Sadler and all the dads out there!