Album Notes

Larry O. Dean was born and raised in the rusty wasteland of Flint, Michigan. With a precocious talent for illustration and writing, he dabbled in comics and underground journalism (working with muckraking journalist and Oscar-winning director, Michael Moore) before being bitten by the musical bug. Inspired by The Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan, The Modern Lovers, Warren Zevon, and iconoclastic proto-punks Wire, XTC, and The Stranglers, he formed his first band in high school and has never looked back.

In San Francisco he found his voice, both as a solo acoustic troubadour and with witty and sardonic avant-pop combos, The Fussbudgets and Malcontent. Steeped in the soul-rock tradition of Big Star, The Flying Burrito Bros., and The dB's, as well as Yo La Tengo's noisy experimentalism and Television's bowery-bred aggression, LOD's songs embrace melodies with lyrics front-and-center, as expected from a widely-published and anthologized as well as award-winning poet. (He is the author of numerous books of poetry, the most recent being I AM SPAM.)

Yearning for a change in seasons, Larry moved to Chicago where, since 1996, he has performed in solo acoustic settings, as well as with critics' darling, hook-happy Anglo-pop ensemble, Post Office; string-driven sextet, The Me Decade; and most recently, pop power trio, The Injured Parties. He hosts a monthly singer-songwriter showcase, "Folk You!" and is a featured poetry reader when time allows.

He has showcased at music festivals in Toronto, Los Angeles, Memphis, Cleveland, and Chicago.