The album ’ s concept follows the life of a man who has just lost his father , shares his struggle and personal journey until he finds joy in the birth of his own son . A few of the songs were written quite a few years ago (“ Oh Father ,” “ Mariana ”, and “ Landslide ”) and dealt with how Casey felt towards the death of his father and the distance it put between him and the paternal side of the family . Other songs are works of fiction . When he wrote “ Songbird ” the concept started to come into focus . “ I wrote ‘“ Songbird ’ a couple years later on a balcony in Ocean City , Maryland ,” recalled Casey . “ That ’ s where I had the idea to start taking these thoughts and fusing them into a character that was similar to me , but dealing with different circumstances . I remember sitting on the beach with my friends , excitedly brainstorming ideas about the different themes of the album and the story itself . It ’ s really come a long way since then .”