Creatively inspired by drawing words from a bag at random, recorded in Willie Nelson's Texas studio, and based in part on the 1979 film Bye Bye Brasil,

certainly has an interesting back-story. In fact, it almost never came to light.

For the three years preceding its release, Two Loons For Tea stopped recording entirely after a strange near-tragedy befell guitarist Jonathan Kochmer. As he tells it, "I almost amputated my left index finger in a bizarre accident involving a butter knife and a buffalo burger."

But the truly interesting story lies behind the band itself.

In the summer of 1989, Jonathan spent his final year at Yale performing on the street just to scrape by with tuition. After graduation, without a paycheck or an apartment, he spent two months living out of his Subaru. Soon enough, though, he was hired as the ninth employee at a small, ambitious internet company called Amazon.com.

Jonathan's luck was only beginning to skyrocket, as he soon met Sarah Scott and began making music with her. As different as their personal histories were -- Sarah was raised by a single mother next to a nudist colony in the Santa Cruz mountains -- their musical styles clicked immediately. Enter Two Loons For Tea.

After leaving Amazon, Jonathan founded Sarathan Records in 2000 and began to concentrate exclusively on recording with Sarah, furthering both the band and label to great success today. Sarathan is now home to a group of excellent artists (stay tuned for more releases on Amie Street).

And as for the band: well, take it from our members!

Dixie It Up! (

)

A very energetic and funny song. You will smile from the first seconds till the end, trust me :) [rec by joy]

Strongest Man In The World (

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Lovely jazz infused vocals with a dreamy feel... [rec by drb]

Sunset Room (

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The whole album is a beautiful mix of languid lounge, chill music with some plaintive lyrics. [rec by sheuer]