Imagine an urgent Leonard Cohen armed only with whisky and a blown tube amplifier, lost in the sprawling Midwest, driving his solitary heart toward an uncertain future. Exploding the usually hidden place between love and sadness, where melody and hope tiptoe warily. As though climbing the arching tree to recover the fallen bird's nest ... Brian Straw grew up in Richmond, Indiana, an idle town off I-70 that first set the tone for the soundtrack Straw carried with him.