I had been in the studio in Shanghai working on this since April 2011 so I am glad to be done finally. Now that it is complete, and since this is a digital download only (for now!.. printing CDs will be next!), I want to thank a few people here… Thanks to all of you who for the past 8 months have given me ideas, criticism, etc… many of those suggestions have gone into the album and have ultimately made it much better. Special thanks also to my friend Edward Sieger Jackson III for letting me record his song Loneliness and Trains, the song that begins the album, and for the advice on the songs over the past 8 months, and for choosing Chelsea as his wife.. you did well my friend. She’s a keeper! Special thanks to my friend Jordan Dotson for actually listening to the songs I have sent him, and being honest with the feedback.. I’ll never forget to always try to hit the moon with a laser when writing. By the way, for those of you reading this, Jordan Dotson is another brilliant songwriter (another meaning in addition to Edward) and writer, and a lot of other things.. one of the founders of Melting Plot (the first English language literary journal in China) that has a song called Break My Heart Again coming out soon and possibly a Country music nomination in the Independent Music Awards in January… but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You’ll be able to hear that song soon. Also special thanks to my friend David Seymour, proprietor of La Casa Restaurant in Shenzhen, China and former member of The Shademakers. If Shenzhen is the music capitol of China, which it is, then La Casa is its heart. While writing most of the songs for Just One More Day, I had David’s CD cover of Calliope Park in front of me; released in the late 90s by The Shademakers, it is absolutely worth listening to. David's album inspired my song of the same name, and inspired me to want to make an album in the first place, and mostly for staying at it and finishing Just One More Day through countless nights of recording and writing. It all seems like a blur now. The whole idea of creating an album could not be shaken while that CD cover was sitting on my piano reminding of what my goal was. I also want to thank the Xinjiang restaurant down the street for keeping me fed while writing and recording. It’s funny how that is an integral step to the creative process. I don’t want leave anyone out, so I want to mention Monique, Lourens, Manu (greatest Yuk player on the planet and one hell of a guy), Frank, Haili, Mary, Coleen, Sam, Kevin, Star Morrison, Eric, Craig, Eli, Val, Lulu, Tom, Patrick (actually, without Patrick none of this would have ever happened), Ranajit (you’ll always be a gangsta my Bengali friend!), and anyone else that helped to make La Casa great.. make Shenzhen great, and make life great.., and helped to forge the foundation inside me upon which this album was created. Also, thank you to my immediate and extended family and friends back in Indiana.. and my family in California who I love so very much and were the inspiration for many songs on the album, especially the last song, Just One More Day,. Finally, I want to thank my wife Rita for her incredible dedication to me and this idea over the past 8 months. There is no question that without her support this album would have never been made, so, thank you honey, I love you. Stephen Merchant - 11/18/2011 Interview with Stephen Merchant, Shanghai, China 10/12/2011 MB: Stephen, can you tell us a little about the album Just One More Day? Stephen: "The album Just One More Day is honest if it can be called anything. It confronts the few different fears that we all have, at least that I have, and possibly how we deal or even solve them.. the fear of growing old and dying alone as described in "For We The Bell Tolls".. the hope in the hearts of Tommy and Mary in Never Again as they drive out of their small town and start their own lives together.. and the party that soon follows.. or the loneliness of Calliope Park as you walk without the one you used to be there with.... the album is also about thankfulness.. a huge thank you to the "Bar Owner" in "The Best Times of Our Lives".. everyone has their own bar owner somewhere.. not necessarily in a bar.. could be their family, but with them you feel comfortable. I won't describe every song here because I want the listener to experience it for themselves.. form their own conclusions about what the songs mean.. The point I'm trying to make is that the album is about true things in life.. it is about real people, and sometimes the real consequences in life for the decisions they have made."