It reminds me that what I'm doing is old ... People have been doing rain dances and beating on drums, humming, and singing lullabies to their children since mankind began."

-- Paleo, in an interview [5]Strackany recorded his debut album Misery, Missouri in early October 2004.

1000 copies were pressed independently and it is now out of print, with no published plans to re-release the work, according to a description on his website.

[2] He found that his best lyrics often come up in everyday conversation but by putting what he finds in an "unfamiliar context", the words can become very significant.

[2] He wrote song, produced his music, booked shows, and traveled around the country while living out of his car.

[9] Paleo's "The Song Diary" project was similar to a feat achieved by playwright Suzan-Lori Parks in 2003 and it was covered by news sources including USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Magnet Magazine, Paste Magazine, the Chicago Sun Times, the New York Post, NPR Morning Edition,[9] The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, in addition to regional and local papers.

-- Deborah Amos in NPR, 2007[9]Paleo made rules[10] for himself: He refused to sleep "until he had completely documented a new song for that day regardless of the circumstances," according to his recollection.

"[6] He received a letter of congratulations from American vice-president Dick Cheney who had heard about the project.

You have to consider that I spent every second of every day of a whole year in a sort of constant state of catharsis, what seemed like never-ending auto-psychoanalysis.

"[10] Strackany worked with songwriter Jesse Elliott on a Washington, D.C.–based music project entitled These United States.

"[6] The band wrote "novelistic songs packed with dense narratives and loose, ragged-edged folk, rock and Americana".

[16] Strackany's contribution was as a multi-instrumentalist who offered "skillfully mixed, multi-instrumental support with a range in keys, drums, accordion, bass and vibraphone," according to NPR.

[1] The Village Voice described Strackany's arrangements as "psychedelic" and noted that instruments he played included the "vibes, glockenspiel, mandolin, and lots of off-kilter keyboards.