[2][3] In the past, Dulli had released solo material away from the Afghan Whigs and his other musical acts, the Twilight Singers and the Gutter Twins.

[10] The album became a solo project when Dulli realized that many of his Afghan Whigs bandmates would be unavailable in the upcoming months: drummer Patrick Keeler would be on tour with his band The Raconteurs, and bassist John Curley had decided to go back to college.

[11][12] After a burst of inspiration in February 2019, the album was primarily written and recorded between then and July 2019, at sessions in Joshua Tree National Park, Dulli's home in Los Angeles and New Orleans.

[3] Dulli wrote and arranged the album entirely by himself along with playing the bulk of the instruments, but brought in supporting musicians to add accents to the songs.

[16] On August 1, Dulli held two pay-per-view livestream events streamed from Gold-Diggers Sound in Hollywood: one solo performance, and one joined by his general practitioner and contrabass/pedal steel guitar player Steven Patt.