I love people’s stories about their families…I love the way families tic, and the ways we’re all crazy and love each other. There’s so much your family gives to you that you don’t even realize it’s giving,” says Lori McKenna.

McKenna is home in Stoughton, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. Holed up in her basement writing room, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter is reflecting on The Tree, her much-anticipated new collection of the smart roots music that has become her hallmark. The Tree takes one of McKennas signature themesfamilyand builds a tapestry of experiences she has lived and overheard, been told and dreamed up, to create a stunning ode to lifes defining relationships.

Home and the people who make it have captivated McKenna for years. I got married at 19 and had my oldest at 20, she says. I didnt grow up all the way before I started having children. I didnt have a lot of time being an adult that was just meI spent so much time worrying about someone else. So I do like to address how I feel about things, for sure, but I also like to think about what other people might feel, too.

The Tree is McKennas eleventh studio album. Its her second collaboration with producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, Sturgill Simpson), and the chemistry generated by the pair and their elite supporting cast of engineers and musicians that helped fuel The Bird and the Rifle is back. Ive seen Dave work in a few different environments, and Im always blown away by the way he can handle everybodys emotions, McKenna says. He can come up with the best equation of how everybodys feeling right then in the room, and then what song will be bestthe one well get right in that moment because of how we all feel. Its not like were making a record. We are just sitting around, playing the songs together.

When asked what she hopes listeners experience once they hear The Tree, McKenna doesnt hesitate.

Every single person in the world has such awesome stories. I love to write songs that just shine a little light on that for a second. Maybe our stories remind us of our families and what they give us. Its beautiful, and sometimes we take it for granted.