Liner Notes

The Reign: Liner Notes →
Why Liner Notes?

Long before streaming, I (like most) bought music on vinyl. As a high schooler working at Der Wienerschnitzel, I was always broke, so buying an album was a big event: saving up, wandering the record store, weighing options.

The album cover was a part of that experience — a square foot of art and as much information as they would fit on the back.

But I was most happy when albums included liner notes printed on the inside sleeve. This usually included lyrics and credits, but sometimes photos and thoughts about the songs, or the artist’s life, or the world.

Unlike today, where a quick Google search yields more than we probably should know, liner notes connected us to the artist.

Thus: my “liner notes.”

  • Liner Notes Follow-Up: “In the Right,” In the World

    Cover of What Art Does, by Brian Eno and Bette A.

    Since I published the liner notes for “In the Right,” I’ve somewhat surprisingly run into a couple things that seem related.

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  • Liner Notes: Footsteps in the Hall

    I wrote a new song, centered around a character’s experience of grief.

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  • Liner Notes: In the Right

    Shadow of a man against a pale brown background.

    “In the Right” was the first song I wrote after a years-long — possibly decades-long — hiatus.

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  • Liner Notes: Josie

    Ad from TEAC brochure: a band with the same person as all four musicians.

    In the early ’80s, I got my hands on my first multi-track recorder: a Teac 4-channel reel-to-reel tape recorder.

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