Well, they say that most things are born with water and die with fire, but in the case of my first official album, Living With the Bear, it seems to at least start other way around. I have been writing and recording these songs for several months and about two weeks ago, my friend Kimberly Ragsdale came over to my apartment studio and delivered what I think is a haunting and beautiful performance on “Wrecking Ball,” the last track of the bunch. A few minutes of editing that song and I printed off the first copy of LWtB. Seven days later, my apartment and everything in it burned down in what they think was an electrical fire.And by everything, I mean everything. Drafts of stories, sketches, film footage, cameras, instruments, all of my old songs and recordings, the whole to-do. One of the very few things that did made it out was this album. To me it feels fitting to release these songs as recorded: the death-knell of that building.These songs are recorded simply and the closest I can come to honestly. Courtney Kinzer contributed some great cello playing to two of my songs, the title track and “Roses (Springtime Again)”, along with a particularly ghostly version of “Amazing Grace”. There's not much to say other than I hope you enjoy this album and thank you for supporting your artists.See you in the headlines,- S. Roark