After the release of their second album in 2003, The Autumn Defense,
multi-instrumentalists John Stirratt and Pat Sansone, realized that there
was indeed an audience for their Simon & Garfunkel/Bread influenced
soft-rock that they hadn’t truly appreciated, and like most things took
some time to develop. “I loved the way that [2003's Circles] had
this sort of gestation period...that it took a while for people to find it,
but when they did, they really dug it”, according to Stirratt. That record
earned high praise from critics like David Fricke of Rolling Stone who
called it, "warm, gorgeous, and delightful," and earned 4 stars from
Mojo magazine.

For their third and latest album, Sansone and Stirratt took some
time away from their duties as members of Wilco to write and record
new material in Chicago. They recovened with their rhythm section
of the last six years: drummer Greg Wieczorek, and producer/
session man Brad Jones, as well as other Autumn Defense regulars
like pedal steel player John Pirruccello and horn player Steve Tyska.
“We’ve worked with them for so long now, that there’s a certain
intuitiveness about the track as it’s going down... that they know the
possibilities as well as we do,” says Stirratt. And through Brad Jones they
were also able to work with new friends Chris Carmichael and Jim Hoke,
whose string and flute performances brought Sansone’s light orchestral
arrangements to life, and to helped provide a truly organic feel to the
recordings.

The result of a long winter’s work is the new self-titled release, The
Autumn Defense. It is the culmination and continuation of what the band has
reached for in the last two records, from the Philly-soul of "Feel You Now", to the baroque "Estate Remains", the bossa "City Bells" to the classic Southern- California sound of "We Would Never Die." A world of voices are explored, styles are touched on, and made their own. They hope you enjoy it.