Lines get blurry here becuade Jon is also producing, and Shanks is also writing and playing.

thats true, a great song/album involves so many different factors that cant be controlled...thats why being a great player, singer or producer doesnt equals a great song...
jon clearly wants a relevant sound, with pop elements that matches his age...the song writing process from his part i dont think that has drastically changed, it may be the constant in this whole equation...i think richie is obviously missing songwriting wise, even if in the past decade he wasnt what he used to be, i think Rich was always an artist who needed special treatment from everyone around him in order to gain artistically the best out of him. the guy surely has music in him though no doubt..
To me its sadly clear that as long as shanks and phil x are involved the way they are its not going to work...shanks doesnt fit as a guitar player and phil x is in a totally different phase music wise making them not compimenting the bands output..
bobby bandiera, a guy who i also didnt like in bj had such a remarkable contribution guitar wise in destination ... he put his self in it and destination is a great album with some guitar highlights, nice tones, melodies, textures...
bobby mastered more in one album than shanks has in 3-4.
and personally i dont buy the underusing of phil x. i think jon has listened to his material and realises theeir styles dont match. i wonder if phil has even try to make jon listen a couple of riffs and chord progressions for future use...(by their sayings none of them has even tried which in my mind is weird)
the new album will have some nice hooks as always. it will be safe and by numbers..i d like to see some going left though for sure..and i really like billy falcons song writing though i believe in a more acoustic environment the raw emotions would come across much better!!

Destination Anywhere was such an interesting album because Jon was opne to experimenting and trying new ideas. I'd love for him to do another solo album which saw him trying out different things again, with different producers. But I think the chance of that happening is long gone.

I think that's the problem when the producer is also a member of the band...there is no outside point of view. No one to tell them it could be better....

Any word on when this album will be released?

No, but i think that new album could be released in the early months of 2020...

For now we only know that Jon is writing new songs…

4:32 min
https://youtube.com/watch?v=lwjj0dvv...ature=youtu.be

1. Isn't that Richie's boy? I've never heard of this guy before and now he's everywhere.

2. Labor Of Love is a Chris Isaak tribute and he just so happens to be great friends with Shanks. Coincident?

3. March 9th in Nashville. Lost Highway Part 2?

the same shit again

For me the next album could be a country rock album like i said some week ago...

A mix of Lost Highway and THINFS sonorities could has the new album.....