The Wild Sea

The Wild Sea marked another turning point for Falling Fences. It was the first record in the Joe Stickley, Blue Print, and Falling Fences catalog not recorded at Centro Cellar Studio in Columbia, Missouri. Instead, we stayed home in St. Louis, finding what has since become a second home at Sawhorse Studios with engineer Jason McEntire. Years later, we're back in the same room recording our fourth Falling Fences album.

The record also grew out of our first intentional songwriting retreat. Sean Canan, Johnny Hussung, and I spent several days writing together at Sean's family river house on the Gasconade, widening the band's creative process beyond the longtime Stickley–Canan partnership. Songs like "Race Car Driver" and Sean's "See Ya Sunday" grew from those sessions and remain favorites in our live shows.

Finally, The Wild Sea realized a musical vision we'd been chasing for years. We'd first experimented with horns on Falling Fences II, but this time Adam Hucke and Aaron Chandler of the Funky Butt Brass Band became an integral part of the record's sound. The result was the fullest, most expansive Falling Fences album we'd made to that point, and one that continues to shape the band's sound today.