Ned Massey describes his carrer like this:

\"This album was a long time coming. I was signed to my first major label deal in 1984. You do the math. I had moved to NYC to be discovered by John Hammond, the Columbia Records A&R man responsible for signing and recording such acts as Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.

Through a lot of crazy coincidence, and zealous persistence on my part (Hammond\'s secretary thought I was a stalker), I finally got into see Hammond and play him songs on my guitar in his office. He stood up behind his desk and started making phone calls to the heads of the label and press people that he\'d found found \"the next Dylan, the next Springsteen.\"

We were in the studio recording what was to be my debut album on Epic Records when Hammond had a massive stroke and never recovered.

Then, I had a series of record deals and development deals that led nowhere. When the last label I was on went out of business the month my album was released, I decided to do an album on my own, recording it myself and playing most of the instruments, to sell at gigs and have as a calling card to get a new deal with perhaps an acoustic indy label. The album, \"A Brief Appearance,\" garnered a lot more attention than I thought it would and helped land me the new deal I have on Sonablast Records, a NYC based indy with national distribution.

So, now, I\'ve got a new album, \"Bloodties.\" I actually had a recording budget for this one. Mostly acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, drums, strings. Pretty simple and coherent. It\'s an album with a theme and a philosophy. But hopefully the songs and arrangements are good enough to stand on their own.

Lately, I\'ve also been doing a lot of acting. I had the lead in two NY theater productions last year and was recently featured in a principal role on the CBS TV series, \"Hack\", starring David Morse.

And I recently finished shooting my directoral film debut, a short film from a script I wrote called \"Katie, Bar the Door.\"

Over the years, I\'ve received great reviews on my music and live performance. One year, I was voted one of the Top Ten Concerts of the Year by the Riverfront Times for a solo acoustic show I did in St. Louis. I was a semi-finialist in the Billboard Best Unsigned Band Contest.

But really, it\'s all about this album. I hope you listen to it and it moves you.\"

Anna Fritz and Laurel Brauns are an acoustic/indie duo from Portland, Oregon. Fritz is most known in the region for her band Annavox who toured the region last February, and currently she is working on her first solo album in nearby Milwaukee. Indie-music.com wrote of Fritz cello work, \"You\'ll hear your own memories. You\'ll close your eyes and not be sure of where you\'ll be when you open them. Not a bad way to spend the evening...\"

Singer/songwriter Laurel Brauns has been back and forth between the Oregon & New Hampshire & Alaska for the past two years touring and recording. She was recently nominitated New Hampshire Artist of the year. \"A nice mix of Cat Power and Sinead O\'Connor... the best of both really,\" said Mike Johnson of Reclinerland.