This EP was recorded a few years after my band David Blazye and The Reservations disbanded. Although that band played many gigs we sadly never made it into the recording studio. The songs Letters Home and There Is A Road were both staples of live sets with The Reservations along with material from my eponymous white album (2007). All This Rain itself was written two years after the band disbanded.

At the time I was listening to a lot of Chess Records Blues, Classic Soul, Mid 1980s Tom Waits and Neil Young’s early electric recordings with Crazy Horse. I was also beginning to gig a lot with my Soul covers band The Shakes and really push my voice.

All of these influences led to a rawer vocal sound from me than before. My newer material has a softer more jazz and bossa nova influenced approach vocally and I knew that was the direction I wanted to move in. This was one reason among several that I never released this EP at the time. Andy Wright (WeShowUpOnRadar) put a lot of work into recording and mixing this work, and I feel he did an excellent job.

These sessions also marked the first recordings of my trumpet playing, which, to be honest, took a while since I'd only been playing the instrument for 5 or 6 months! We recorded those parts mostly at Andy's house, outside of the main studio session.

This EP reflects where I was musically during that period and I'm glad to make it available for anyone who wants to listen.

This was my sophomore release back in 2007 but the first under my own name, following my album "From The Playground" (2002, DB Records) as The High and Lonesome.

The download includes bonus artwork by my good friend Ali Hazeldene (AKA Ali Bonsai) that would have made up the package had we had the budget to produce a full gatefold CD and/or LP. In the end we went with a more cost effective digipack but I still love the whole aesthetic. It even features the original back cover photo of me which differs somewhat to the final released version as my appearance had changed a bit by the time of release.