Love and Theft has a little explaining to do to some of their fans, now that their sophomore album is out and doesn't include their viral hit, "Try to Make It Anyway."

"We get tweets about it every day!" the duo's Stephen Barker Liles tells The Boot with a laugh. "It's not really in the direction we were going for with this album, but I wanted people to have it. So my buddy was cool to let me come and make a little video ... I'm glad people have it, since it's the conclusion of a story."

That "story" began in the summer of 2008, just before Stephen's buddy and then-tourmate Taylor Swift released her award-winning Fearless album. "She was like, 'Hey, I wrote a song about you,'" Stephen recalls. "And I was like, 'That is so weird. I just wrote a song about you like a week ago!' But she didn't say whether it was a nice song, so I waited like four months to see if it was going to be a mean song! I knew in my heart it wasn't going to be, but her track record is like all mean songs."

The song Taylor wrote about Stephen is, of course, "Hey Stephen," which is featured on Fearless. In return, Stephen's song about the blond beauty mirrors her tune's lovestruck lyrics. Watch him perform "Try to Make It Anyway" below, and don't give up just yet on the song appearing on a future Love and Theft album.

"It would be cool to record it with a full band someday down the road," says Stephen. "I really like that song."

For now, the duo is celebrating last week's long-awaited release of their eponymous sophomore album. The new project is a lot different from their debut, not only because they've gone from a trio to a duo, but also because they've embraced more of an organic sound.

"We wanted a record that reflected our live show," Love and Theft's Eric Gunderson tells The Boot. "I feel like we nailed that. There's not a single part that we played on the record that we can't play live. Nothing that we sing is too difficult for our live shows. We tried to hone in on that Crosby, Stills and Nash and Eagles vibe."

Read our full interview with Love and Theft here.

Watch Stephen Perform 'Try to Make It Anyway'

Watch Love & Theft's 'Angel Eyes' Video

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