On the inside front cover of the CD, you can read a list of the influences that inspired this album: The Grass Roots, The Standells, The Swingin' Medallions, The Seeds, The Music Explosion, The Human Beinz, The Premiers, Buddy Holly, The Everly Brothers, Tommy James and the Shondells, The Beatles, The Zombies, The Hollies, Santana, Junior Walker and the All-Stars, The Four Tops, Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Albert King, B.B. King, Freddie King, Carole King, The Kingsmen, South Carolina Beach Music, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Aretha Franklin, Nick Lowe, The Ramones, Bobby Freeman, XTC, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Nazz, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Lee Michaels, The Parliaments, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Johnny Cash, The Johnny Burnette Trio, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Hank Williams, Bill Monroe, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, The I-Tals, The Sir Douglas Quintet, Flaco Jimenez, John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson, Jimmy Reed, Robbie Fulkes, The Byrds, Gram Parsons, John Prine, Jimmy "The Yodelin' Hobo" Rodgers, Boz Scaggs, Mother Maybelle Carter, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Muddy Waters, Johnny Rivers, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Harry Belafonte, Professor Longhair, Memphis Minnie, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, and Joan Osborne. They are all in there somewhere. Think garage-band Beatles. A kind of super-group of seasoned, battle-scarred, should-be-famous musicians get together—in Mike Perkin's basement instead of a garage—and try to do their version of a Beatles album, in other words, a kind of low-rent concept album, an album that runs the gamut of American music genres and yet retains a common thread running throughout, a shared sensibility about how American music ought to be made. Mike Perkins produced the album in his basement studio, The Lab, on his vintage 16-track tape machine, and played guitar. Noteworthy are Mike's soaring, transcendent solos on "Was It Love or Was It Magic?" "Everybody I Know Loves You," and "Gardens of Babylon," and his rockabilly stylings on "Little Bit" and "It Was Love." Tom Walz was instrumental in recruiting the Ghastly Fops. Like Keith Richards chucking the low E string to play in G-tuning, Tom stuck duct tape on the bass strings of his guitar to get the "chanks" just right on "Is It True?" and "Harder Than You Think." That's his jet-engine slide guitar revving and lonesome harmonica wailing on "Can't Get a Break," and his Albert King-esque garage-blues stylings on "Ain't That Lovin' You," and "We Can Rock and Roll." Virtuoso bassist, Al Guerrero, establishes the unique soundscape of the album. Just how essential he was can be heard best in his wildly walking lines on "Little Bit," and his sonorous, singing tones on "Is It True?" Scott Balliet's jackhammer, minimal input/maximal result drumming gives the album its rock-solid undergirding. His bamboo brush-work in "Little Bit" is a rockabilly ne plus ultra. That's Original Sins alumnus Dan McKinney contributing the Hammond to "We Can Rock and Roll" and "Smack Dab," and the boogie-woogie piano to "Little Bit." Wayne "Dr. Squeeze" Leibel's syncopated accordion gives "Sweet Dreams" its Flaco-style, Tex-Mex groove. Ted Silar played keyboards and guitar, sang the vocals, and wrote the songs. Not to forget the crickets and katydids too numerous to mention individually featured on "Is It True?" recorded one balmy summer night on a tape recorder stashed in Tom Walz's sister's woodpile.