To paraphrase John Lennon, life is what happens when you’re busy making other albums. After recording 2022’s Revival, singer-songwriter Judah Akers decided to creatively face the fact that his own life had imploded.

Over their decade as Nashville’s crossover folk heroes Judah & the Lion, Akers and mandolinist Brian Macdonald had built a strong enough foundation to explore both darkness and light. Not long after college, the hardcore fans of the Lumineers and Mumford & Sons made their 2014 debut, Kids These Days, then broke through with the genre-blending Folk Hop ‘n’ Roll in 2016. With 2019’s Pep Talks, they revealed the musical confidence to grapple with real life struggles, setting Akers’ candid dispatches on alcoholism and family trauma to their cohering mix of acoustic roots and Alt Rock.

Today, having gone through The Process, literally and creatively, both members of Judah & the Lion feel stronger than they’ve ever felt. Akers is now engaged. Macdonald just had a baby. And the band has a stronger sense of mission than ever before. “We’ve always wanted to make music that helps people feel less alone,” Akers says. “Weirdly, the more specific you can be about your journey, the more others can relate to it. Music’s beautiful in that way, in how closely it connects us. When it’s real, you feel it, and it can really be life or death.”