A photo used in the liner notes was taken backstage at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, Massachusetts by American photographer Victoria Uhl in 2004.

Blurb from Fat Cat Records:[2] "It was on Doug Schulkind's WFMU radio show Give The Drummer Some that we first came to hear the gentle acoustic sound of Tom Brosseau's music.

A natural songwriting talent coming from such disparate influences as Nick Drake, Cole Porter, and Woody Guthrie, Tom sings songs of lost love and poetic observation that shimmer like aural tintypes.

Ostensibly a collection of highlights from his recorded history to date, augmented by several new recordings, Empty Houses Are Lonely works as a fine introduction to Tom's plaintive, eloquent, timeless music."

Heartfelt songs, including an ode to Leonard Cohen, trying to get something that something else won’t give, a local swimming hole in Lakota, a ukulele, the aftermath of a natural disaster, and walking along under a hot blue sky .