Some albums mark where an artist is headed. This one marks where he began—and what he’s learned along the way. With I Sometimes Think (Better), Atlanta songwriter Steve Baskin returns to the album that started it all, re-imagining his debut record with the warmth and chemistry of his band, The Fourteens.

The original I Sometimes Think – recorded alone in Baskin’s Underground Studio – introduced his soulful, melodic Pop Americana sound. Two of its songs, “Beside You” and “Trip Begin,” earned Billboard Songwriter Awards, and the opening track “How I Feel” landed on a Paste Magazine sampler in 2006, marking Steve as a rising writer who could wrap real emotion in radio-ready hooks.

Twenty years later, those songs sound wiser, deeper and utterly alive. With Roger Brainard (guitars), Mary Gill (vocals), Mark Sobus (bass), Geoff Gill (drums), Mark Van Allen (pedal steel) and Lee Davis on piano and organ, Baskin breathes new air into his early work. Co-produced with longtime collaborator Rich Herring (Trax Productions, Nashville) and tracked at Lee Davis Studio in Maysville, GA, the album glows with analog intimacy—real musicians playing real instruments, live in the room.

“Because I didn’t have a band like The Fourteens around twenty years ago, I played every track myself,” Baskin says. “I was literally learning how to make a record. Having those players as part of the project gave me the resources to make the record the way I’d originally envisioned it.”

Each track sketches a different corner of that vision:

·   How I Feel – A jangling power-pop gem co-written with Trey Hollingsworth, opening the record with mandolin, pedal steel, and rich harmonies. It signals that this isn’t nostalgia—it’s rebirth.

·   Where You Are – Another Hollingsworth co-write, a tight, melodic groove that shows how effortlessly The Fourteens lock in. It’s searching, catchy, and quietly anthemic.

·   I Don’t Know Nothing (Love Song) – A simple and soulful 6/8 Americana ballad built on mandolin, pedal steel, and organ. The first song Baskin ever played for his future wife.

·   Trip Begin – Co-written with Mary Dean and recognized by Billboard. From the first snare crack, it’s all propulsion and purpose—power-pop guitars, soaring harmonies, and pure road energy.

·   Beside You – Another Billboard winner reborn with shimmering disco-soul groove and a soaring guitar cameo from co-producer Rich Herring. Moody, contemplative, and beautifully restrained.

·   Better – Inspired by Baskin’s wife’s challenge to “finally write her a love song,” it sounds like a song the Beatles might have cut at Muscle Shoals during their Sgt. Pepper’s era – horns, Hammond, and harmonies tumbling in ecstatic motion.

·   A Hard Day’s Night – The Beatles classic slowed into a sultry, organ-swathed groove—what was once shout-and-shake rock becomes late-night soul meditation.

·   Lucy – Think hillbilly Ramones: grinning guitar energy and bar-band joy. A burst of garage twang that shows off the prowess of the Fourteens.

·   Bad Idea – A swaggering rocker about temptation and hindsight, complete with a Zeppelin-style bridge and fiery guitar work.

·   I Sometimes Think – The title track closes the album in jam-band spirit, Hammond organ and Memphis-style horns swirling around reflection and release.