My eighth studio album “The Long Way Home” comes out in twenty-three days. On February 6th at 6AM, I will finally be able to share with you a piece of art I have poured my heart into. I finished the album in September and then added a song in October and was one hundred percent done making changes by Halloween. The album has eleven tracks, and it is my most personal album to date. I found myself drawing comparisons to my album “Numb” and my album “Normal”, but for both of those projects - I was hardly sober. “The Long Way Home” is a lot of the same thoughts I had on those projects, just with six to seven more years of maturity and growth. This time, they’re being viewed from a sober Logan, one that is looking at them not as setbacks, but instead as superpowers that propel me to be a better human being every day. On this next album, I no longer view my past as heartache but instead as peace. I am at peace. 

There is a lot of material to deep-dive into on this album. Since they are three to five minute songs, there was simply just too much to fit into a track. The stories are long, and the lessons span several decades. So I decided to do something completely new - I decided to write a book to accompany the album as well as start my first podcast show. The podcast I’m starting is simply called “The Logan Baumgard Podcast”. Both the podcast and the book will expand, in detail, on the stories and real life events that inspired the songs off of my new album. The book is titled: “The Long Way Home”.

The first season of the podcast will be entirely focused on the real life incidents, experiences, and moments that shaped the story my next album tells: A journey from pain to peace and acceptance. The first season of the podcast is titled “The Long Way Home”, and the first episode will drop on Monday, January 26th. A new episode will be released every two weeks until the end of the year. 

The goal for my first book is to be released by early 2027, it will expand on every story that is told on my new album. Just like the podcast, this book has been an absolute blast to create, and also very therapeutic. I’m so excited for this next chapter of my creative journey, and I’m so excited to share the stories through my upcoming album, podcast, and book. The album will be released exclusively on this website before it will land on streaming services and online music stores. 

 

I hear this a lot where people want to start something, such as reading or meditating, and they’ll say, if I only had that perfect chair that overlooked a beautiful view, that I could sip my coffee and read my book, or I wish that I had a place in nature or on my property that I own where I could go sit outside and meditate. Most of us do not have these luxuries. Most of us are lucky to have a home or an apartment or a room or a desk that we call our own, and you have to make the most of what you have. What do I mean by that? Just a few days ago I started pulling up YouTube videos of 4K nature or 4K sunrise to read in front of. Usually these videos are accompanied by sounds of nature. Now of course I would love to go out and actually be in these environments, but I have to get my daughter up for school this morning. I have to get her fed and dressed, and then I have to go to work, so I don’t have that luxury, but I am making the most of what I have instead of not doing what I want to do because I don’t have the perfect situation or environment to do so. You have to make the most of what you have. Another example, I sit on my couch and I can just barely see the sunrise through my patio window. Would I rather be outside on a hill with a perfect panoramic view of the sunrise? Of course I would, but I have to get my daughter up for school this morning. I have to get her dressed and fed, and I have to go to work, but instead of dwelling on the fact that I’m not on a hill watching the sunrise, I’m taking action to have a little slice of peace this morning to relax and watch the sunrise, what I can see of it, instead of dwelling on what I don’t have.

I put off starting a podcast for 5 years because I didn’t have the perfect microphone or the perfect camera setup or a million other excuses. The truth is, I was putting it off because I was fearful of what other people would think. I have a microphone that works fine, and I have an iPhone that takes really good videos, so I started my podcast, finally. Too often we don’t take action because of fear or because we don’t have the ideal equipment or situation. I’m done waiting. I’m taking action. I’m chasing my dreams.