There's a real commitment every time, as an artist, you need to go out and perform, whether it be in Europe or whether it be in the United States," says Michael ONeill from a park bench in Malibu. "It's 36 hours to Austin, 36 hours to Nashville, and it's a good 20 hours to Los Angeles. So, everywhere in between you get to play, you have to really be committed to making the journey and doing as many dates as you possibly can."

Michael ONeill knows whereof he speaks. Having spent more than 35 years as a musician, cutting his teeth as U2's supporting act in 1979 (while War and The Joshua Tree were still gleams in Bono's eyes) before setting out as a gigging musician in the ‘80s and ‘90s, ONeill (no apostrophe there, by design) is no stranger to the hard road of being a working musician.

Forged in the ‘70s renaissance of popular Americana, ONeill is a paragon of the ways in which art and life mutually influence one another. He was singing about the dusty trails and the tear-strewn beers and the fast women before he'd ever really spent time with them. So many years on, his music is imbued with the post-world-weary resign that comes with being a man of a certain age, with all the regrets and the fond remembrances that come along with that.

Without dwelling too much on the past - some of which apparently involved international altercations and lawsuits, according to his website - it must be said that ONeill returned stateside to find his home back in Washington. While he flirted with mainstream country success at various points in his career, having worked for Geffen and Warner Bros. Records, ONeill has mainly settled down in Gig Harbor, content to self-release the majority of his work, including his latest, I Like It Like That, while still making an effort to move his way into film and television scores, as well as starting his own publishing and record companies.

On his new album, ONeill allows himself to get more personal than he has in the past. While there are still straight ahead Southern rock songs about drinking and womanizing ("Real Deal" and the title track, notably), much of the record feels content to explore melancholy territory, mining material from ONeill's self-professed difficulties with balancing love and family with the life of a musician. "Love Laid Bare," adorned with swooning organ and slide guitar, is a mature exploration of how hard it can be to maintain a relationship outside of the blissful first blush of love - when the realities of a life shared together begin to weigh on two people.

"There's a bigger story in the new record," says ONeill. "It's really a personal journey, for me, on this record. I believe that it's a story of being as authentic as I can, being as thin-skinned as I can, and to tell the truth as to where I'm at. I think that's really important, as a songwriter, to be as honest as you possibly can be. That's what reaches the heart of your listener."

Though he's spent the majority of his life making music - and encountering the difficulties that come along with devoting oneself to the musician's life, whatever good or bad may come with that - ONeill finds himself at peace with his current station in life, and not bitter about the travails he's endured to get where he is.

"All of that had to happen to get me to where I'm at, right now, today," says ONeill. "When I left Los Angeles, in the ‘90s, Napster had really crumbled the music industry business as we knew it. ... I always had the plan to own my own publishing company, own my own record label, put out my own independent records and sell them. I just didn't realize it would take me 20 years."

After so many years in the music business, Michael ONeill is still making an effort to turn out quality music, which he's done again in I Like It Like That. His release show is being housed at Morso in Gig Harbor, where he regularly hosts an Americana night.

MICHAEL ONEILL, 8 p.m., Saturday, March 22, Morso Wine Bar, 9014 Peacock Hill Ave., Gig Harbor, $25, 253.530.3463

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