The genesis of this CD project was the first session Brian and I recorded together in 1992. We had been talking about forming a group and decided that we would go directly into the studio and record without a rehearsal. We sat down and selected the tunes we wanted to do. Brian would pick a drummer he liked and I would pick a bass player I liked and we would record. It was that simple. That session with Ken Haebich on bass and Mark Ott on drums involved some great playing, and there was something apparent then that has been true ever since: we both felt a special connection to ballads and more introspective music in our performances. Both of us have written all types of music for different groups over the years, but our quartet seems to breathe life into a ballad in a distinct way. Whether with Mark or Ernie Adams or Tim Davis on drums, the group has managed to discover each time, a particular language suitable for this more intimate music. Strictly speaking, this CD is not all ballads, yet the feel of these 13 songs in combination is, for us, organic. And so several years and hundreds of gigs later we have compiled a testament to those songs and that sense of intimacy. Half the CD is material we recorded since that first session in 1992 and released on previous CDs. Half the material is new. We hope you enjoy this set of tunes and that it provides for you the space and introspection that playing them and recording them provided for us.