 In an interview with Chuck Armstrong of "The Boot," Mike Cooley said that the photo is based on a song he always wanted to write about how long the American flag stays at half-mast these days in the United States.Jonathan Bernstein, writing for "Rolling Stone", said that "American Band" is the group's most politically-charged record yet, noting the controversy it generated, saying Cooley and Patterson have written an album of "blunt, pissed-off Trump-era anthems that already began to stir controversy months before its release.