 The band hired Shirley and agreed to his recording conditions , which meant recording in New York City at Avatar Studios , taking weekends off and recording from 1 : 00 – 8 : 00 pm . Chris said of the rigid schedule , " We loved it .... We had lives other than just being in the studio 24 hours a day , seven days a week . Got a different vantage point on the whole thing . " Shirley 's laid @-@ back style also won praise from the band . " Kevin is the first guy that I 've worked with that just went with it — especially my singing . A lot of this album is just my scratch vocals . It 's very loose , and Kevin let it go .... He 'd say , if we didn 't get it in two or three takes , ' We 'll come back tomorrow ' " , said Chris . Of the album 's lyrical bent , Chris said , " ... there is a lot of love on it , and I 've never written love songs . I do think having a muse in my life like the woman I 'm with now helped .... I think there 's also a lot of humor on this album , which is something we haven 't touched on before , except maybe on Shake Your Money Maker , which was a lighter time and a lighter mood . " There was also a conscious effort to " simplify the language " , which was inspired by Chris 's listening to music by Otis Redding , George Jones and Muddy Waters . " I realized how direct and honest those records were – and I wanted that here " , said Chris . 
