Album Notes

"To call "All the Whispering," Adam Rothberg's, debut solo CD, "long awaited," is an understatement. For the better part of the last decade, Rothberg dominated the regional music scene as a producer (Dar Williams, Bernice Lewis, Jamie Morton, Pete Nelson), band member (Big Waaagh Scratch Band, Dr. Isosceles, [Hector On Stilts]), recording engineer (Derek Studios in Dalton), publicist (Iron Horse Music Hall), manager (Dar Williams), instrumentalist (Joan Baez, Cliff Eberhardt, Sugarbeat, Sloan Wainwright, Victoria Williams, Mark Olson) and performer. In other words, Rothberg, a Pittsfield MA native and multi-talented multi-instrumentalist, has been everything to everyone, but as the above and only partial listing shows, always in the service of others.

All this time, however, we've known that Rothberg has been hatching -- or hoarding? -- his own original works. We've caught glimpses of them here and there, at various festivals and venues, and they showed promise, but only in small bits. Eventually, we grew tired of the promises that Rothberg's own recording would soon be completed and wondered if perhaps Rothberg was having trouble delivering the goods. Therefore it's all the more a pleasure to be able to say that "All the Whispering" -- a wry title, could it refer to the whispering behind Rothberg's back? -- is simply one of the greatest debut recordings I've ever heard."

- Seth Rogovoy, The Berkshire Eagle, WAMC Albany (NY) Public Radio