Working with producer Tim Patalan (Sponge, Lovedrug), the band penned more than fifty songs for the album, twelve of which were recorded in a converted barn just a few minutes down the road from vocalist/guitarist Stephen Richards' home.

"We made each of our previous albums in expensive studios and always had to keep one eye on the clock to finish on budget," says Richards. "This time we got to record an album the way we did our early demos—relaxed, at our own pace, and allowed to indulge in our own guilty pleasures. It proved that you can actually go home again."

Our Long Road Home reveals a revitalized band with a broadened range and deepened perspective. The album combines the feral ("Take It") with the grandiose ("Footprints") while exploring themes of loss ("Be The One"), liberation ("Run To") and the emotional carnage in-between. On tracks such as "Hand That Holds True" and smoldering lead single "Wherever I Stand," Taproot blends iron-fisted backbeats, honeyed melodies and speaker-shattering guitars to thrilling effect.

After recording three albums for a major label, Our Long Road Home will be Taproot's first as an indie band, and as Richards tells it, that suits them just fine. "Budget cuts and political shifts cost us our support system at the old place," he says. "When our A&R guy lost his job, we knew it was time for a change. A few years ago, that might've been a scary thing, but it's a brand-new world out there now for bands like us. We no longer have to rely on a big record company to make things happen and that's exciting. We made this record without the pressure of having to write four smash hit singles hanging over our heads and that was liberating. "Of course," he laughs, "there are a few songs on the album that could do really well on radio."