Brad Colerick and Gene Klosner met each other skiing in Colorado, only to find out they lived across the street from each other in Lincoln, Nebraska. After years of performing to their fellow college friends, gaining a following both as a duo and as individual performers, they decided to cap off their college collaboration with an album of originals. Aurora was recorded at Sound Recorders Studio, known well for early American Grammaphone recordings. In fact, Brad and Gene would be just coming into the studio in the afternoon, when members of Mannheim Steamroller were packing up and leaving after their morning sessions for their legendary Fresh Aire V. Aurora was released on Veteran's Day, 1983, on LP and cassette. At that time, record stores were overly impressed that it was "also released on cassette"! The recording features Brad and Gene, both on piano, both on guitar, plus Andy Hall (bass), Bill Bolmeier (drums), Mike Reynolds (synth), and Timberline's Jim Salestrom (banjo), who had been touring with Dolly Parton. Joining on backup vocals were Jill Knott and none other than Gene's sister, Cher Klosner. Cher and Gene had performed together since they were kids, but college had suspended those duo performances for a few years, so it was fun to be able to share that first studio recording experience. A final promotional tour for the album (originally intended to reach all the U.S. towns named "Aurora") resulted in visiting key cities in the Midwest and Mid-South, including Nashville, Tennessee. When they arrived in Nashville, their gig venue, The White Frogg, had a "Closed" sign on the door, leaving them to scramble for a last minute gig. They ended up at a Tony Roma's, and met some interesting characters there. (Just ask us the stories!) One visitor that evening normally played there on other nights, and she got up to sing a few tunes as well - her name was Suzy Bogguss. Years later, Suzy has made a successful country career and that chance meeting back at Tony Roma's eventually led to a duet between Brad and Suzy on Brad's Lines in the Dirt CD. In those few days there, Brad and Gene met songwriters Paul Davis, Fred Knobloch, Booker T. Washington, Alan O'Day and Harriet Schock. At the same time they were exploring Music City and all the songwriters' haunts, Gene's sister Cher met some Nashville players in a band, performing at a bar in a small town in Nebraska. Talking with these Nashville players, she got the idea to move to Nashville, known for being a songwriter's town even beyond country music. She got to Nashville a few months after that and Gene followed her there, while Brad moved to L.A. Cher & Gene spent 11 years in Nashville, releasing three CDs there, before moving to L.A. Brad was involved in jingles and production and started his Back 9 record label there. Once Brad got back into focusing on his own recording career again, Brad and Gene only had occasional opportunities to perform together. Cher & Gene have both moved back to Omaha, Nebraska, while Brad remains in L.A., where he has released three new Americana CDs in the last few years, and Cher & Gene released a double-disc lullaby CD, and are in the process of releasing new Christmas music and singer/songwriter material as well (actually working with a few members of Mannheim Steamroller!). The studio where Aurora was recorded still stands, though Sound Recorders built their own studio on the other side of town and sold the original place, which is now Ware House Productions, where Cher & Gene have been recording their material since they returned to Omaha, and also - in a nice"full-circle" moment - where Aurora has just been remastered for this digital release. [For fans of Dan Fogelberg, John Denver, Pure Prairie League, Jim Croce, Simon & Garfunkel, America, Eagles, James Taylor]