The music disciplines have changed dramatically over the past 30 years. With the advent of powerful computing and the internet, the ability of the worlds aspiring musicians and performers to compose, record, and produce high quality music without the expense and logistical nightmares of legacy methods has unleashed a bounty of impressive music. At the same time, the world's economic challenges have trickled down to the public and state schools. This has made it harder than ever for children to get the kind of music education that was once a staple of those schools. Teachers are overworked and the schools are placing a greater burden on students to provide their own instruments, uniforms, sheet music, tutoring, and other important elements of the educational process. But the world's economic woes are not limited to the schools and have also trickled down to the families of those very students. In short - money is running out and quality education in music is becoming less available to children who are inspired and eager to learn. Those of use who are relatively active and successful in music come from around the world. We produce our music without, in many cases, having ever met one another. This is the power of modern technology. It is bringing together musicians, composers, and producers regardless of their location. For the past few years a number of us have collaborated on various songs and from this activity emerges the concept of Distant Friends. Divvying up proceeds from our collaborations, however, is a challenge none of us felt we were able to meet. And so the concept of Distant Friends evolved to describe an effort to make charitable contributions to state and public school music programs by those who are concerned with such things. Distant Friends is not a charitable organization per se. It is a privately held company that makes charitable donations to other organizations focused on public and state music programs. For instance, all net proceeds from this CD project, titled "Empty Pockets", will be donated to the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. Donations will continue as long as someone out there is purchasing the music from the Empty Pockets album. If you're interested in getting involved, please find us at the Distant Friends link listed on the CD. Please enjoy this work, and visit the sites of the contributing musicians, authors, and artists.