“The Empire Strikes Back” is slightly better than “A New Hope.” The second half of my musical career has proven more meaningful than the first. “Il Buono, il Brutto, il Cattivo” (technically a prequel) is the third and best of the excellent Man with No Name trilogy. And for the love of Pike, Picard is ten times the captain Kirk was. Otherwise, you can leave sequels, remakes, and reboots alone. There’s never so much as a tie.

Now then — where were we? Right; it’s November 2009 and I’m sloshed. I’m not proud of this part of the story, so let’s just hit the highlights: I move to Louisville, make a bunch of bad decisions, and freeze my creative fount until December 2011, when I manage to crank out “The Mirror” and work on the aptly named Evil Autopilot album resumes. The worst is over – Fextonia 17 is finished and released in August 2012 – but this looks to be the last gasp of a dying band.

I got lucky. My move northwest introduced me to several new quality players who also became good friends, starting with this guy:

Saxophonist and keyboardist Herb Shown became the core of a new, Louisville-based version of Fextonia, along with his vocalist-percussionist wife Helen. In their basement we worked up new material, rehearsed it till we were ready, and then showed it to the world.

Dan Paul, guitarist extraordinaire, had known Herb for years and enthusiastically participated in our eighteenth release, much as Jarrod had in our second. On Katherine’s Moment in the Sun (released in July 2014), Dan co-wrote three songs, co-produced, and handled the lion’s share of the engineering duties. Other new faces contributing to this album were bassist Dan Huber, drummer David Castello, and a certain 3-year-old we’ll formally meet shortly.

For my part, I was finally changing; I may not be perfect, but I haven’t been a drunkard since September 2014. Naturally, a series of new challenges immediately presented themselves — and (long story short) they lost.

The first half of 2015 was stormy and magical; I got my personal life in order, finished the ol’ Ph.D., and was a busy bee in the studio. Fextonia knocked out The Answer in April, with the same lineup as its predecessor (minus the Showns) and the only question left was “Now what?”

A return to the holler, that’s what! Both Brandon and Dave (recently back from Canada) suggested a reunion album, which Jarrod and I thought was peachy keen. During the course of several visits to my home county, we had a lot of fun making Twenty Years (with help from bassist/lyricist Gary Lee and a certain 4-year-old we’ll formally meet shortly). It was released in late December, 19 years after we got started, so sue us for false advertising.

Album 21 was a hybrid affair; Jarrod and Brandon (virtually) joined forces with Dan Paul and Louisville keyboardist Tess Moloney for May 2016’s Halfway There. This collection marks the real musical debut of my son Julian, who went from “that cute kid who claps along” to co-writing three tracks and playing additional keyboards, at the tender age of 5. Have I pushed him? Nope. But I’ve given him opportunities, and he’s delighted in seizing them.

For our next trick we reconvened in Bell County, “we” meaning myself, Jarrod, Brandon, Dave, Julian, and – yay! – Uncle Dale. Whence the Piper Pipes was done by early September. Now back up to Louisville for another hybrid lineup: January 2017’s Greatest Hits (actually just another studio album; we’re so clever!) featured Jarrod, Brandon, Julian, Herb, Jamie Haley, and Dan Huber (whose composition “You Were Made for Me,” written in 1980 but never recorded, holds the honor of being, in its way, the oldest Fextonia song).

This sort of back-and-forth is not normal for a working band, but I was getting the hang of it. Our 24th album, Interesting Times, ranks as perhaps our most overtly political (if you’re into that sort of thing) and certainly one of our strongest — and it involved a stripped-down lineup of me, Dave, Julian, and Uncle Dale. Upon its release in late May 2017, we rested on our laurels for a much-needed break.

Just kidding; Julian and I worked with Dan Paul and three newcomers – guitarist Bernie Sheehan, bassist Bob Hart, and drummer Paul Woods – to have the sprawling Ma, Mu, and the Great Train Robbery ready by Groundhog Day 2018. It remains the Fextonia album with the most tracks (18) and is, for the most part, pretty darn experimental. The same group (minus Bernie) fabricated the more rock-oriented River Be Still by July. One song, “Forever Kind of Love,” came about when Bob found a lyric sheet written by his late brother Jerry. The two had written many songs together, and they got to do it one last time.

Alas, Paul Woods took his leave after album 26; good fortune next led me to guitarist Phil Impellizzeri and drummer Pat Matheny. These two longtime allies joined Dan, Bob, and the Money boys to make two albums in 2019: Nameless Nick Can’t Stop Quitting in June and Legendary Legend in December. Remember 2019? Something has changed since then, but I can’t quite put my mask on it.

If you dig this sort of “and then X happened” narrative, stay tuned for the third act (still in progress). It’s just beginning to get crazy.