When I was a kid, whenever I would buy a new album, I couldn’t wait to rush right home, lock myself in my room, listen to the album and read the liner notes.  If you’re old enough, you’ll reminisce, “Ah yes, the liner notes!”  A thing of the past.

Back in the days of the LP (Long Playing record) the purchased package was large enough to most often contain a wondrous area of insight and information called the liner notes.  Here one could pay a visit back stage through the eyes of some of the best writers of the day and learn more about one’s music heroes, fascinating tidbits about the making of the albums, their gigs, and personal stories about the performers.

Written by the likes of Pete Hamill, Dan Morgenstern, Alan Rich, and Leonard Feather, they even gave a Grammy Award each year to the writer of the best liner notes.  I would pore over these notes usually reading them over and over until just about memorized.

When Duke Ellington’s album, Ellington at Newport, came out with his historic “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue” featuring Paul Gonzalves’ incredible 27 chorus sax solo of perfection, I must have read George Wein’s fascinating liner notes literally hundreds of times

Then, as usual, the music business began to change.  LPs became passé; CDs were in (good for the music, bad for the liner notes).  The packaging shrunk and with it disappeared the liner notes.  The print became so small that most of us over 30 couldn’t read the 6-point type anyway.  And so these vital statistics and personal insights of our music heroes sadly became a thing of the past

I don’t know about you, but, for me, this was a great disappointment and just another of a long line of mistakes made by the moguls of the record world.  It was like taking the statistics of baseball away from a baseball fan.  It closed a window on the process of music making so fascinating to us all.

Though a Grammy Award is still given for best liner notes, it has definitely been relegated to the back page.  It’s as if they no longer exist

Until now.

Welcome in the Watchfire Music Digi-Book.  Want to connect with the process of music making, get insights on the writing and recording and along the way gain a better understanding of the artist’s intentions?  Check out Julia Wade’s new CD, Every Day, and download for free the beautiful 14 pages of pictures and liner notes designed by WFM’s chief designer, Sara Gray, and written and compiled by artist Julia Wade and producer, Peter Link.

Here you’ll even find the printed lyrics to all the songs and additional pertinent quotes illuminating each song’s spiritual intention.  One click and this gorgeous Digi-Book will appear on your desktop.  You can even magnify the booklet to make the print easier to read.  Ah, the wonders of modern science.

Here at Watchfire Music we’re really proud of this baby and plan to do more.  We’re constantly looking for ways to enhance the experience of music listening and bring you a better product.  We also had a blast creating this special insight into the making of Julia’s new CD.

So listen to the music.  We ask you not to first put it on while you’re doing the dishes.  It was not intended for background music, but rather, we like to think of it as foreground music.  Strap on those headphones and sit back with your computer or iPad and follow the trail of creativity while you listen.  Read the liner notes.

Give it a try.  We guarantee a richer experience in music listening and inspirational thought.

Enjoy!