He also told Rolling Stone in July 2009 that he is not concerned whether or not there's a large audience for such a raw, simple record.

He debuted the first of those, "Save Some Time to Dream", on May 17, 2009, at a political fundraiser for President Barack Obama at the Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis.

"It's about individual freedom and thought—and controlling our own lives", Mellencamp said of "Save Some Time to Dream", which he performed solo on acoustic guitar throughout much of his 2009 summer tour with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson.

"John is a really great singer and I'm always happy working with him in any environment", T Bone Burnett told the Express-News.

During Mellencamp's session at Sun Studios in late July 2009, he recorded several songs including "Each Day of Sorrow", "No One Cares About Me", "The West End", and "Easter Eve", which Rolling Stone magazine's David Fricke compared to "one of Bob Dylan's talking blues".

They had 'X' marks made with electrical tape on the floor where Elvis and his musicians stood and where the instruments were placed, because Sam Philips walked around the room and decided where everything sounded best".

[15] Mellencamp gave the first live performance of the song "Save Some Time to Dream" for a concert audience on July 10, 2009, in Dayton, Ohio.

He subsequently performed the song at several other concerts, including Farm Aid 2009 and a tribute to Myles Brand at Conseco Fieldhouse.

"Someday the Rains Will Fall" is not included on No Better Than This, but it is found on Mellencamp's four-disc box set, On the Rural Route 7609.

Mellencamp's 2009 summer tour of minor league baseball parks with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan and the recording sessions for this album were filmed by renowned photographer Kurt Markus, who released a documentary titled John Mellencamp: It's About You that premiered in New York City and Los Angeles in January 2012 and was released on DVD and Blu-ray in June 2012.

Mellencamp showed "It's About You" before his performance each night during his 2010–2011 No Better Than This theater tour, which began on October 29, 2010, in his hometown of Bloomington, Indiana.