Album Notes

Rewind to 1997. Christopher Rowell moves to Atlanta from Birmingham, AL, where he has spent the better part of his youth playing in young bands with future members of Warm in the Wake. Atlanta is booming, post-Olympics haze besieges the city, and Rowell creates a band with new friends called King Lear Jet.
Fast Forward to 1999. King Lear Jet releases an E.P. and later a full-length album recorded and produced by Adam Lasus at Fireproof Studios in New York. Adam has worked with the likes of Helium, P.J. Harvey, and Sugarplant and the band strikes up an immediate bond with the veteran producer and finds measured success with song liscensings to several Fox and PBS TV shows and the indie movie Tadpole.
Then in 2001, Rowell moves to Asheville, NC, for an extended respite (one year) from Atlanta. He is affected by the small mountain city and the differences that abound between his past and his present home. He walks a lot, tries to make a living, and writes more songs than he ever has in his life. During this period, King Lear Jet ceases to exist in its former incarnation. James Taylor, Jr. (of Carrolton via Birmingham) joins the band as drummer, as does key player Dan Barker. Many of the songs written by Rowell in North Carolina are recorded and mixed by Adam Lasus in Brooklyn, and by Ed Rawls in Atlanta at Redlab. The result is a fine mix of verses and audio flashcards, character sketches, rough-hewn acoustic ballads, and bent rhymes released as Port of Quick Returns.