After touring the United States as a full band in support of the group's debut, Legends & Lies, von Beck pared Straw Dogs down to a simple duo, initiating the help of his old friend Darren Smith from the Colorado-based Stranger Neighbor.
The songs on Any Place At All earned von Beck and Smith 4 Billboard songwriting awards and the opening slot on the Crash Test Dummies final tour.
[citation needed] Songs from the album found its way onto AAA and college radio, and won first place in the KZOK (Seattle) talent contest.
[citation needed] Hum of the Motor, a tribute to the open road and Americana was released on March 18, 2003, this time with a full band dishing out the tunes.
We brought in Casey Miller on drums, Dan Tyack on pedal steel and some other great players, so it has added some depth to the Straw Dogs sound."
In longer shows, Darren and David add an acoustic set, which gives the audience a chance to hear just voice and guitar, the root tones and clean harmony that drive this band's compositions.