Find out where you can catch David Berkeley performing his new album 'A Pail Full of Fire'

Over the course of more than two decades in the music industry, David Berkeley has learned many things.

For his ninth album, “A Pail Full of Fire,” Berkeley knew exactly what he wanted and recorded the album in Eugene, Oregon, in June.

Two weeks later, it was mixed.

'The shape of love': Santa Fe singer-songwriter David Berkeley's new album a love letter to family

“This was the quickest recording process that I’ve ever had,” Berkeley said. “I had been writing for some time and it’s great to have it out.”

The Santa Fe-based musician is ready for the album release — and he’s put together two shows to make it official.

The first show will be on Friday, Nov. 15, where he will perform at the Historic Old San Ysidro Church in Corrales.

The next night, he will perform at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe.

“I really love performing in old churches,” Berkeley said. “I feel that the material from this album really holds a great space in a structure full of character and history. The Old San Ysidro Church has become one of my favorite places to perform.”

Berkeley says the recording process was very natural and fell into his vision for not having the album too overly produced.

He wrote both “Wild Gods” and “Eye of the Storm” right after the world got back in order after COVID.

“I was going to release those as a 7-inch vinyl and had the artwork ready to go,” he explained. “It would have come out two or so years ago. I held onto the songs because it seemed like I should make a fuller project.”

During his writing process, Berkeley became very aware of the passage of time now that his son is nearing the end of high school.

“I was just trying to take stock of our lives,” he said. “The good and the bad. The joy and the sorrow. There’s a lot of beauty and pride in watching our children get older. There’s a lot of sadness about that time being gone. My wife and I just had our 20th wedding anniversary and I think a lot of my songs are love songs in a way to my wife Sarah.”

For both shows, Berkeley and his three-piece band will perform “A Pail Full of Fire” in its entirety.

“Because the songs are about the shape of love, about the passage of time, about children growing up, about looking for and then holding onto what matters, the spaces we are performing will fully encompass that,” he said. “Some of these songs are clearly autobiographical. Others clearly aren’t. But I’ve been feeling all these themes powerfully, either directly or indirectly, as my kids pass me in height and my hair gets grayer and grayer. I wrote them, as always, to Sarah and to those boys, but I suppose I’m singing them also to myself, to remind me of what I really care about.”