Jim Stricklan is a performing songwriter playing his songs throughout the southwest. Jim moved to Denver in the 70s and sang for years in the local coffee houses, clubs and concert halls before returning to Texas. He’s written hundreds of songs, toured the southwest, and released twenty albums to date—with a nationally charted single in 1986. His songs have won top honors from the Southern Songwriters Guild and Colorado Composers Classic. Jim has worked at many legendary radio stations, including KWKH in Shreveport, KLOL-FM in Houston and KVET-FM in Austin. Check out Jim\'s website www.frontroommusic.com for more about his many albums, books and more. Conceived and recorded in ‘99 and 2000, # 12 was my last twentieth century album. It was primarily designed as a musical thank you to the wonderful friends we made during the three years Leslie and I worked in northern Louisiana. Half the songs are a tribute to the talented people and exciting culture of that great state. No. 12 was recorded with the help of George Coyne at Parrot Tracks in Manchaca, Texas. My chief musical collaborator on the album was John Simons, an amazing bass player I met in the mid-nineties. John played with Larry and me at the old Austin Music Hall (see photo) and it was a pleasure to work with him on this record. Ponty Bone, Jim Fenner, Joseph Brunelle, Joey Colarusso, and Jamie Hilboldt added even more spice to the mix of songs. Room Full of Rain was recorded at a little Austin studio called Sonic Arts, and I believe one or two other basic vocal & guitar tracks were done in the FRM studio, with overdubs at Parrot Tracks. The cover photo of steam locomotive No. 12 was taken up at Silver Plume, Colorado by Leslie around 1986. We released a limited edition of perhaps fifty CDs back in 2000, although the album never felt complete to me. I decided to re-mix many of the songs and ended up adding drums to a few more tracks. Those steps, combined with Jerry Tubb\'s superb re-mastering, really made No. 12 come alive!