Unlike Walker's previous, critically acclaimed solo works, 'I Liked It Better' was recorded quickly and collaboratively, with his band The Black Widows. "We literally went into the studio the day after our tour ended," recalls Walker. "So the wheels were greased." The album was recorded mostly "live" over just five days, using first and second takes. Strings were subsequently added at Abbey Road Studios in the UK, providing some of the album's most interesting textures.

The songs on 'I Liked It Better' range from the anthemic first track "Trash Day," perhaps the catchiest-ever meditation on the absurdity of modern life, to the poignant closer "Be Good Til Then," a lullaby to his young son that imparts some advice "my dad would have given me if he could have put it in a song," says Walker.

Likewise, the album reflects a broad swath of Butch's favorite music including the country-tinged work of songwriters like Gram Parsons and Kris Kristofferson, and the gold-standard '70s pop of ELO and T. Rex. It's an improbable combination that sounds completely natural in Butch's hands.