After years of helping steer the lauded and eclectic careers of both of his bands, Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, cofounder and frontman David Lowery presents a collection of songs recorded apart from those iconic alternative rock entities. Stopping short of calling it a solo record, Lowery has collaborated with a handful of trusted musical cohorts associated with his Richmond, Virginia-based studio, Sound of Music an inner circle that has Lowery has relied on for over seventeen years and who have been instrumental in helping create the sounds heard on this album as well as past projects. David recorded and produced The Palace Guards in conjunction with John Morand and Alan Weatherhead. Key players include Miguel Urbiztondo on drums, David Immergluck on guitars and bass, Craig Harmon played organs and Ferd Moyse on upright bass and fiddle. Special guest appearances include Cracker mates Sal Maida and Johnny Hickman as well as the late Mark Linkous who played keybords on Big Life. Says Lowery: One of the reasons the album sounds the way it does is that I have pretty strong personalities playing with me, says Lowery, guys who I have worked with for years, who have done engineering or playing on Camper and Cracker albums. There s that instant easy rapport that shines through. Working with them brought out the more extreme edges in these songs and amplified them. It was also liberating to start with no preconceived notions of what they would end up sounding like or worrying about how they might sound in a live setting, as I have to do when I write songs for Cracker.