“This is a very nomadic album,” says Johnny Delaware. “I recorded it in studios at home in
Mexico City and on the road in the United States and in hotel rooms all across Latin America.”
It makes perfect sense, then, that Delaware would call his new collection Para Llevar, which
translates roughly as “to go” or “to take.” Drawn from Delaware’s years of journeying—both
physically around the world and internally to find himself—the record blends elements of
Laurel Canyon and Latin America with dreamy, psychedelic production to forge a mesmerizing
cultural swirl that transcends borders and traditions. Delaware produced the record himself in
addition to playing nearly all of the instruments, and the result is a deeply personal
exploration of human nature through the eyes of an itinerant observer, an intoxicating
meditation on the doubt and hope and fear and love and loneliness that bind us all, no matter
where we call home.
Born and raised in South Dakota, Delaware spent his 20s drifting around the US before
eventually landing in Charleston, SC, where he recorded his 2013 debut, Secret Wave. The
record earned glowing reviews, but it was another Charleston project Delaware helped co-
found, Susto, that soon took center stage, garnering raves from Rolling Stone and Spin and
landing tour dates with the likes of The Lumineers, Band of Horses, and The Head and the
Heart. After moving to Mexico City, Delaware relaunched his solo career with 2022’s similarly
well-received Energy Of Light.