When Rich McCulley approached us about creating a cover for his fifth Americana record “Starting All Over Again,” we jumped right into it.  This is our third album together now, and the last two have seen quite a bit of radio play and placement activity on TV and in film. 2009 was a tough year for Rich, in which he lost not only a close friend but also a former girlfriend, both of which were music partners too.  So this record carries the theme of loss and inevitable change, not always for the best.

Typically we begin with me listening to his master recordings and sketching out dozens of ideas, a process that works well for artists that don’t come with set image or theme ideas out of the box.  I keep my sketch pad handy in the car and in the studio and just spin the record as much as possible.  All in all I presented about 30 finished sketches to Rich and this one struck a chord right away:  a little toy house burning right to the ground.

We had some difficulty locating just the right plastic house, but finally an Echo Park 99 cent store turned up two packages of the structure seen on the cover, allowing us to burn one as a test and use the other for the final shots (and only cost $1.98).  As it turned out, both sets of shots yielded some great stuff, so we ended up using one set for an animated film on the splash page of his website, and the other for the cover.  Who would have thought it would be so tough to burn down a little plastic house?  But it is, probably for kid safety I suppose, and it took an entire box of wooden matches set aflame inside to get the houses burning correctly.

The inside photo was taken on a concrete staircase nearby to Rich’s recording studio, showing him in a reflective mood that matches the vibe of the record.  All the album notes fitted neatly under the cd face, allowing the rest to remain relatively untouched.  On the back cover we placed a closeup of a match, which also appears from a different angle on the cd face.  The texture and color of the asphalt adds a nice grey tone to the whole package.

This album drops on March 16, 2010 with a full press campaign, so listen for it on a station near you soon…