Dry Ridge is Paul Loomis' first album, the fruit of eight years of writing. There are songs from when he lived alone in Indiana, about breakups, teaching nightmares involving helmets, and an old truck. There are songs that celebrate married life in rural Pennsylvania, songs for an impending baby, then songs about being a parent. There are also songs about none of these things. Paul first played in public in 1996 at a talent show for mathematics faculty and graduate students. That was his yearly gig until he moved to Pennsylvania in 1999. It was a benefit concert that brought him out, and since then he has played benefits for a theatre, a school, a food cupboard, the English club, and a library in South Africa. He has also, by his count, played at weddings, birthday parties, potlucks, campfires, family reunions, preschool, department parties, student recruitment events, garden tours, and poetry readings, as well as the usual open mics, bars, restaurants, and coffeehouses. Paul says: What should I say here? Maybe it should be something that will make you want to buy this CD, but hopefully moving your mouse over to some of the songs will make you want to do that. I don't want to say too much about the songs; I think they stand up reasonably well on their own. I will tell you that sometimes a song just appears; other times it has a long road to being something I like enough to play for people. The first song I wrote for a member of the opposite sex started out as a song about a burrito with sundried tomatos in it; later, when my feelings about the person changed, it went back to being about the burrito. That song isn't here. There is another one about the end of that relationship, as well as a wistful one for a Datsun pickup with failing brakes. But maybe I've said too much already. Thanks for your time.