’I have three older siblings and there were lots of records and tapes around. For the first eighteen years of my life all I did was listen," says New York City based singer/songwriter Michael Rosen. "I also wrote a lot of really bad poetry and song lyrics. When I finally picked up a guitar and learned a few chords, it all came very naturally. I didn't really set out to write songs, it just sort of happened. It's still that way." Starting out in coffeehouses and clubs in Boston, where he attended Emerson College, Rosen made his way back to New York after writing and performing for two years in London and subsequently founded the band Another Story, and played to sold-out crowds all over Manhattan. Working as a television producer, Rosen was offered an opportunity to become a development executive at VH1, where he helped develop and supervised programming for the network. It was at VH1 where Rosen met Bob Johnston, the legendary record producer (Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen) who after hearing a collection of Rosen's acoustic demos exclaimed, "You gotta go make a fuckin' record kid!" Weeks later, production on Rosen's eclectic self-titled debut began. The record was produced by award-winning keyboardist, songwriter, engineer, and arranger Billy Jay Stein, a former member of the Atlantic Records group "The Hatters." Stein recalls, "the minute Michael started playing me some songs, I knew that this was an artist I wanted to work with. His voice and approach sounded like all the classics I grew up listening to and at the same time, he had a distinct style and sound. The lyrics were really smart and insightful and his ability to write a great melodic hook was obvious. He had hit songs, my goal was to bring them to life and develop his sound." "Our goal was to make a record that pleased us," Rosen says. "The idea of actually selling and touring it came very secondary. We wanted to make sure that twenty years from now we could put it on and have it still stand up. And, I wanted the album to cover a whole range of my musical tastes, from pure pop and roots rock to gospel and folk rock, and still feel cohesive as a whole. Best of all, there was no pressure and we were free to experiment and do whatever we pleased." After completing eleven demos, Stein and Rosen (not the law firm) brought in some of their favorite musicians and formed a band. In addition to Rosen on acoustic and electric guitars and harmonica and Stein on the piano, B3, and keyboards, the CD features lead guitarist Mark Dannells, Gregg Shapiro on bass, Larry Lelli on drums, and three back-up singers from the Broadway Gospel choir; Ayesha DeHaas, Capathia Jenkins, and Angela Deciccio.