When You Come Back Down

Tim O'Brien and Danny O'Keefe wrote it, and O'Brien first recorded it for his 1997 Sugar Hill album When No One's Around, produced by Jerry Douglas. Nickel Creek cut their version in 1999 with Alison Krauss producing, and it became the first single from the album, reaching 48 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs. Brent Hedgecock directed the video, most of it shot, Sara Watkins wrote in her journal, on a mountain top above Malibu.

NPR heard a ballad that could have sat on country radio of the time, and Sing Out! picked it out, with Out of the Woods, as a cover that fitted comfortably among the band's own songs. setlist.fm logs 121 Nickel Creek performances, making it their 14th most played song, and an audience tape from Rockygrass in Lyons, Colorado, in July 2001 includes it. Amanda Cook recorded it for Narrowing the Gap in 2021, saying she had always loved the song. The upload in the hypersongs web is a live performance from the band's February 2021 livestream from Santa Barbara, Nickel Stream: A Livecreek Experience.