As much as the story behind Brendan Benson's fifth solo album is the story of making a record, it is also a story of finding a family, of love, marriage, the birth of a son, and of another kind of family too; one made up of all of the musicians, music-lovers and friends, who have helped to make these songs and build a label to carry them.

Over the years, Benson had grown accustomed to doing things alone, releasing four solo albums to date, starting with 1996's One Mississippi and followed by 2002's Lapalco and 2005's Alternative to Love. There was a brief hiatus when he co-founded The Raconteurs and spent a few years touring and releasing two albums with them, but he made a return to solo work with 2009's My Old Familiar Friend. It was around this time that he also decided to relocate from Detroit to Nashville; a move that would set in motion events and relationships that would eventually form the backbone of his latest offering, What Kind of World.