[4] Over the years, he has toured extensively, headlining as well as opening shows for John Mayer, Fountains of Wayne, Ron Sexsmith, Liz Phair, Joe Jackson, and Shelby Lynne.

Mead then regrouped with producers Peter Collins (the Cardigans, Rush) and Jason Lehning (Emerson Hart, Alison Krauss), and between late 1998 and early 1999, they cut The Luxury of Time.

Mead's second album, Mine and Yours, produced by Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), was recorded at New York City's Sear Sound studio (John Lennon, Steely Dan) and released in May 2001 on RCA.

Featuring guest performances from Dominique Durand (Ivy), Sean Pelton (the Saturday Night Live band), Danny Weinkauf (They Might Be Giants), and Jody Porter (Fountains of Wayne), its 14 songs were recorded from 34 demos.

Two of the album's most notable tracks, "Standing Here in Front of Me" and "Girl on the Roof," were written one week before recording commenced, after RCA asked for more "single material."

"Standing Here in Front of Me" was later featured on CBS's The Bold and the Beautiful, and "Girl on the Roof" appeared in the motion pictures National Lampoon's Van Wilder and The Sweetest Thing, both released in April 2002.

I got the album back when I left [RCA] but felt, after releasing Indiana, that the full package was confusing and not indicative of where I was going musically anymore, so I tried to frame the songs as more [of] a lost piece of time.

After a few slightly bizarre meetings in which algorithmically-induced metrics and social media compliance were discussed with a ferocity once reserved for killer hooks and Led Zeppelin, I deduced that I simply don't fit into the industry anymore, if I ever did.

In 2009, he co-founded Elle Macho, a power trio with Aussie singer-songwriter and bassist Butterfly Boucher and drummer Lindsay Jamieson (Ben Folds, Brendan Benson).

Jim Ridley of Nashville Scene wrote,[25] Sounding like a cross between 'Whip It'-era Devo and the pop pastiches on Phineas and Ferb (a mighty high compliment in my household), this merry kids' band actually camouflages a genuine Nashville supergroup: the tag team of David Mead, Swan Dive's Bill DeMain, Brother Henry's David Henry and The Mavericks' Paul Deakin[.

]Several times a year, Mead travels to Key West, Florida, to perform in a cover band called Phanni Pac (with Jason White, Scotty Huff and Paul Deakin) at the Hog's Breath Saloon.