Long before he was a member of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers -- decades before he collaborated with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, John Prine and Roy Orbison – Howie Epstein was upstairs at his parents’ home in Milwaukee, earnestly crafting his own substantial catalog of original songs. This CD features his earliest efforts, recorded with a pair of pocket-sized cassette decks perched on the foot of a bed. And while the technical sophistication of this material cannot compare to Howie’s later work as a Grammy-winning musician/producer, these tracks are proudly presented -- unenhanced -- as a rare glimpse at the nascent spirit that propelled his extraordinary Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame career. Indeed, this is how it all got started.
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