[1] Letters was a more sedate, piano-oriented album than its predecessors, and soaked in the influence of Webb's peer and eventual close friend Joni Mitchell.

Regarded by many critics as Jimmy's best solo album, Letters finds Webb working in a number of styles, but none quite so devastating as his simple, acoustic rendition of the hit he penned for Glen Campbell, "Galveston".

A more mainstream album in both sound and content than his previous Reprise efforts, it was released in the hope that Webb could finally break through to the large singer-songwriter market that had been created in the early 1970s by the likes of James Taylor, Carole King, Elton John and Joni Mitchell.

Following his rise to fame as one of the most successful popular songwriters of the late 1960s, Webb's early singer-songwriter albums seemed almost "deliberately uncommercial".

[2] Although these recordings failed to make it onto radio playlists, he was able to tour with a band and perform to receptive audiences in various cities, especially New York, Philadelphia, and Detroit.