Ryan Adams will follow up his extremely successful 1989 with a new album this November, his first collection of original songs since 2014’s self-titled effort. Speaking with EW, Adams said he wrote more than 80 songs for the project before whittling it down to 11. He said he honed his vision for the album by listening to ’80s music while running in LA:

When I run, I listen to [an iPod] Nano that I have. I put all the AC/DC records on from back to front, or I’ll listen to the best of stuff from the ’80s: Springsteen, or Hornsby, and I’ll listen to what is going on there. I was listening to AC/DC’s Fly On The Wall and that’s when I realized what I had to do for the record.

Guitar tones from Bachman-Turner Overdrive and ELO also influenced the as-yet-untitled project. It was produced by rock veteran Don Was, whom Adams affectionately refers to as “Gandalf.” As for the subject matter, he was vague but colorful:

I’m taking all the cool, big questions I’m asking on this record, then flipping it over, and then flipping it back to Side-A and you still have more questions… I’m a relatively convoluted soul creatively. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. I think the challenge for me — the Everest peak, for me — is to tell this story in 11 songs, to tell this part of my life in 11 songs. How do I make a real distinct record where anybody listens to it and says, “That’s the truth from beginning to end.” So it’s like exercise. It sucks in the beginning. But then you get into it.

The album will be out 11/4, presumably on Pax-Am.