Album Notes

Jim arrived in Seattle from California via New York City in 1971, way back when nobody knew where it was and Seattle was the best kept secret in the Emerald Corner. Before Starbucks and Microsoft, Bill Gates and the cash cow called "Grunge." Falling in love with the rain and the wonderful spontaneity of the place Jim immediately started writing songs about it. Over the years the catalog grew. Then someone suggested that some of these songs be recorded to created a ballad overview of the city, its life and times, and Jim's life in it. This is the result. The oldest song is First Avenue, going back to 1971. The newest is "I Keep Comin' Back," written specifically for the project in 2004. And the others span the times between. Listening to this album you will take the Ferry to dry land, walk through Gasworks Park, meet a singer on the road who picks up two AWOL hitch hikers and takes them to Canada, rid buses and avoid the cops on First Avenue, meet a pool hustler named Walter Tortoise, watch Paul Allen take over, see the new baseball stadium get built, see the wrecking ball tear down the old hotels, ride the Fremont Bridge, have a crazy rag time dream about the old rock and roll bar band days, and finally fall in love with the place all over again. The instrumentation is world class - Orville Johnson on resonator and acoustic guitars, Grant Dermody on harmonica, Michael Gray on fiddle, and Dale Fanning on percussion. And, of course, Jim Page, singing, playing guitar, and painting lyrical pictures for your ear.

"Jim Page's music is the kind of great theater that makes you sit on the edge of your seat. One of my favorite writers and performers...always on the money, and always amazing."
CAROLINE AIKEN

"Jim Page's songs get right to the point. He looks at the world clearly and reports what he sees with compassion, humor and a biting sense of irony. And boy! can he sing and play. If you're ever going to get the message, this is the messenger to get it from."
U. UTAH PHILLIPS