Album Notes

The American musical heritage has a common thread that weaves through blues, jazz, country, and folk music; one which Luke Sayers has woven into his songwriting along with the structure and emotion of pop and rock music. Luke has been hard at work establishing himself throughout the country over the past 2 years. The former bassist, a songwriter, singer, and acoustic guitarist with Tangerine Trousers left the group to pursue a solo career in the fall of 2004. Since then Luke’s debut solo CD "Songbook; the introduction" was released in 2005, and he received the following honors: *The Detroit Music Award nominations for Outstanding Acoustic/Folk Songwriter in 2005, Outstanding Acoustic Artist in 2006, and Outstanding Folk Artist in 2007. Mark Iannace also received the 2007 DMA nomination for Outstanding Acoustic Instrumentalist. *1st place in the 2005 Great Lakes Songwriting Contest for his song “What I should've said" Luke Sayers and Mark Iannace will release their new EP length CD “Long Way Back” in May at The Ark in Ann Arbor. The duo, along with fellow former Tangerine Trousers Michael Hacala (drums) and Pat Shanley (acoustic/electric guitars & vocals), had been touring all over the Midwest as Luke Sayers and The Last to Know in 2006. Their travels included 3 performances as the only Michigan artists selected to showcase at the 2006 international Folk Alliance conference in Austin, TX, as well as returning to headline at The Ark in Ann Arbor last June. Luke’s songwriting continued at a torrid pace during this time, and The Last to Know’s performances of these new songs left audiences requesting a CD featuring this new and exciting sound. So the boys headed back into Ann Arbor’s Big Sky recording studio to work once again with their long time collaborator, engineer/producer Gregg Leonard. Luke wanted to capture all of the warmth, energy, and unity that had become the hallmark of the band’s live shows. With all of Leonard’s recent experience producing the nationally syndicated radio program Acoustic Café’s live in studio performances, Luke had no doubt that he’d be able to do just that. “Long Way Back” is both honest in its simplicity as well as polished in its arrangements and minimalist production. No additional musicians were brought in, and no additional instrumentation was added in order to maintain the integrity of the purpose behind making this EP.