Halfway through 2013 — a banner year that included four national tours, a Daytrotter session, an appearance at the Americana Music Festival, and the release of a critically acclaimed EP — Andrew Leahey was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Surgeons told him that if he didn’t have it removed, the tumor was guaranteed to make him deaf in one ear… and eventually threaten his life. They also recommended he take a break from his band, Andrew Leahey & the Homestead, a heartland rock & roll group steeped in the melodic, guitar-driven music of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and Bruce Springsteen. Andrew did take a break… but not for long. Brain surgery happened in November. A local benefit show featuring performances by some of Andrew’s Nashville friends — including headliner Jason Isbell — happened in December. Come January, Andrew Leahey & the Homestead were writing new songs again, rolling Andrew’s recent brush with death into anthemic tunes stacked with vocal harmonies, dual guitar leads, B3 organ and super-sized hooks. Once February hit, the guys hit the highway. As the year went on, the Homestead opened for everyone from Emmylou Harris to the Wild Feathers… and managed to find time to record a full-length album with producer Ken Coomer, Wilco’s former drummer. “I remember driving to the hospital on the morning of my surgery,” Andrew says. “I was listening to Tom Petty’s Full Moon Fever and thinking, ‘Man, this album sounds great.’ The way the acoustic guitar pops out of the right speaker during “Running Down a Dream”… that’s the kind of stuff you sort of take for granted. You never stop and think, ‘I’m so thankful that both of my ears are working, so I can hear these things in stereo.’ That morning, I learned not to take the music for granted.” This is music for city highways and country lanes, for pop fans and roots rockers, for the heart as well as the heartland. It’s desperation and redemption and gratitude, funneled through Telecasters and Les Pauls and Wurlitzers. It’s Andrew Leahey & the Homestead. Here’s to second chances.