The record is Allison's first in twelve years after swearing off formal recording. It was Grammy winning producer Henry who finally lured the inimitable musician back into the studio. "I became fairly obsessed with the notion that Mose might yet have something more to tell us," Henry explains. "And so I embarked on an old-fashioned letter writing campaign by way of lobbying his participation."

When the two eventually teamed up in Henry's California studio, Allison found his most sympathetic setting in years, surrounded by young, vibrant players, who added a surprising slide guitar and some sinewy saxophone to the classic Mose sound; "The Way of the World" also features Mose' first-ever duet with his daughter, singer Amy Allison. Yet this album is all Mose, from the solo song "Modest Proposal," a sly scalpel taken to organized religion, to the modernist, Monkish changes he takes the band through on the lone instrumental, "Crush."