Dan Tedesco explores today's society with recent EP, Hey Nonny show

St. Charles native Dan Tedesco's stop at Hey Nonny in Arlington Heights this weekend isn't his first one, but this time he has a little more to say.

Returning to the Chicago area from Des Moines, Iowa, where he now lives with his family, folk singer-songwriter Tedesco is bringing along songs from last month's EP release, "Who Knows How Long This Will Last."

The six-song release is a spiritual companion to last spring's "American Darkness" album, according to Tedesco. Written during 2016, around the birth of his first child, the album addressed the tumultuous times from the viewpoint of a parent to a child, but also from an entire generation "to our kids at large."

The new songs, which Tedesco will share in Hey Nonny's listening room Saturday, Feb. 29, continue that conversation.

"Neither the EP nor the album was meant to be political," Tedesco said. "Although I can see how people might think that. But I wrote more from a humanistic perspective, a social perspective more than a political soapbox."

The songs explore what happiness means and the challenges in finding the truth. "What that even means anymore can actually be debated," he said.

"I try to see these different perspectives," Tedesco added. "The idea of empathy and understanding and where everybody's coming from."