Songwriter, seasoned guitarist Steve Gunn plays HopMonk in Novato

Songwriters often draw on personal experience for inspiration, but Brooklyn-based singer and guitarist Steve Gunn took it to a new level for his single “Stonehurst Cowboy.”

The song - from his current album, “The Unseen In Between,” released last month - stems from time spent with his dying father and namesake, who grew up as a street fighter.

“It’s an homage to his upbringing and his life in a tough Philadelphia neighborhood. I wanted to visualize his life story through his eyes,” said Gunn, who performs Friday, Feb. 15, at the HopMonk Tavern in Novato.

The elder Gunn, who grew up poor during the ’60s, died in 2016 at the age of 67. During his last months, he told his son more than he ever had before.

“He got sick, and I’d been on the road for years, so I came home. It’s like we got reacquainted with each other.

There were a lot memories he had wanted to forget, all that pain that he had never really talked about before,” Gunn said. “He was really open about it.”

The sharing of personal history during the writing process not only produced a powerful song, but brought father and grown son closer together.

“It was my way of making peace with him and his life,” said Gunn, 41.

“For this song and this album, I really found my way as a songwriter. I was primarily a guitar player, and came to songwriting in kind of a backwards way.”

Since 2007, Gunn has released 15 albums, half a dozen of them team projects with other performers. The newest album, “The Unseen In Between,” was produced by his frequent collaborator James Elkington.

“That was a major advantage, having him in the studio. He was telling me, ‘Don’t be afraid to be yourself,’” Gunn recalled.

“I was afraid of reducing things to a simple form, but this time, I started writing songs that changed that for me. I was really focused on who I was.”

A highlight of Gunn’s Marin County show will be the opening act: cult favorite ’70s Japanese folk singer Sachiko Kanenobu.

“I heard her doing a New York indie radio station, and she had heard my music. We got to meet at the Huichica Festival at the Gundlach Bundschu Winery last summer, and got acquainted. Now we’re close friends.”

You can reach staff writer Dan Taylor at 707-521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @danarts.