Indie Americana musician John Calvin Abney has spent years both as a touring sideman and a confessional singer/songwriter, playing guitar for artists including Ben Kweller, S.G. Goodman, Lydia Loveless, and John Moreland, all while releasing six of his own albums along the way. Abney returned to his solo work most recently with his 2022 album, The Tourist, written after spending the pandemic traversing the country as an itinerant writer, and his 2024 EP, Shortwaving.