"[14] In July, Owens shared the album cover and track listing plus a video for the single, "Nothing More Than Everything To Me", directed by Max Minghella, announcing that A New Testament would be released at the end of September accompanied by a North America and UK tour.

[15] In a statement accompanying this announcement, Owens wrote that A New Testament was "inspired by the fundamentals of American music—Gospel, Country, R&B," and was a demonstration of "honest, earnest, simple songwriting—'three chords and the truth'".

[16] He also shared that he worked on the album with many of the musicians from Girls' Father, Son, Holy Ghost (2011), including guitarist John Anderson, drummer Darren Weiss and keyboardist Danny Eisenberg, and Lysandre producer Doug Boehm.

[20] Notably, a few songs on A New Testament originated from Owen's time in Girls: "Overcoming Me" was first written in January 2008, "Stephen" around 2010, while "Oh My Love" first premiered in July 2010.

"[22] In addition, despite the album's forays into gospel music, the opening number "My Trouble Heart" re-writes Peter, Paul and Mary's 1962 song "Early in the Morning" from a godless perspective.

[1] The Guardian's Tim Jonze called A New Testament "a gospel-tinged country record", writing that while "the melodies here don’t reflect [Owen's] best work", "there’s a passion and honesty here, an uncompromising desire to follow his own vision.