There are at least 3 reasons you should buy this Best of Jamie Anderson CD, without further ado: 1. It includes the incomparable song 'A Family of Friends' from the outstanding now-cassette-only Women's Music compilation. 2. It includes many songs from her out-of-print CD titles. 3. It includes 'Dark Chocolate' which is our favorite-ever Jamie Anderson composition. That's why it's Highly Recommended by Ladyslipper... and now, more about it, in Jamie's own words (from www.jamieanderson.com): 2007 marks my 20th year of touring. I can't imagine a better celebration than to release an album like this one, a showcase of some of my most requested songs. I wish I could've put the liner notes in a beautiful thick CD booklet but I didn't have a Trump budget. Much better hair, though. So, here's the rest of what I wanted to say. Settle in with a cup of coffee. Heck, make a pot. You know how we musicians are, especially when we get to talk about our music. In 1987 my friend Martie van der Voort and I decided we wanted to attend the Michigan Women's Music Festival. If only we didn't live in Arizona. Hey! We're musicians, we can book a tour. Martie brightly exclaimed, We'll pretend we're booking agents! and off we went. I've been collecting tiny motel soaps ever since. I've crossed many bridges with this crazy touring life, playing in thirty seven states and four countries, in over a thousand venues, from the 1993 March on Washington for GLBT rights (for a mere few hundred thousand people) to small house concerts. I missed Montana and both Dakotas but I've played in Alaska, in Hawaii, on a couple of Caribbean islands and heck, I've been happy to perform in Kokomo and Boise -- wherever there's someone who wants to hear my tunes. It's fitting that I dedicate this album to Dakota. No, not the state, but my (now ex) partner who wisely commented, You don't want to wake up when you're 80 and say, I wish I'd done that. I did it. And I'm still doing it. (I hope she's not mad about the break up songs. Hey, it's art.) I also want to dedicate this to my fans. If it wasn't for you, I'd be singing in my living room for my house plants. They don't applaud. Not only did you clap but you cheered me on in countless ways. I love you all. On May 11, 2007, when I traipsed into AirShow Mastering with my original master tapes and CDs, Charlie Pilzer, the engineer, smiled and raised an eyebrow. Let's get most of these songs from the CDs he calmly said, And if we need to go back to the original studio tape, we will. We had to do just that for three of the cuts. Fortunately, he had an old reel-to-reel machine. I crossed every appendage as he loaded a tape that hadn't been played in 15 years. Every couple of minutes he'd hit stop, pull up the tape, and wipe the heads with a cotton swab and alcohol, removing a layer of mildew and dust. I'll be damned if the tapes played. It brought me right back to being a nervous new performer, wondering what the bejesus I was doing in that big studio, recording my little songs. Here are the songs: All songs written by Jamie Anderson, except 'A Family of Friends,' by Sue Fink and Jamie Anderson; and 'Where the Water Runs Deep,' by Lois Hoover and Jamie Anderson. 1. Three Bridges 2. Drive All Night 3. Beautiful 4. One Out of Three 5. My Dad Loves to Sing 6. Too Busy Being Blue 7. I Wanna Be a Straight Guy 8. Grace 9. Dark Chocolate 10. Mama Come Quick 11. When Cats Take Over the World 12. Loretta and Bernadine 13. I Don't Know About the Night 14. Her Problem Now 15. Menstrual Tango 16. A Family of Friends 17 1/2. Where the Water Runs Deep