Born in Syracuse, NY, Ed Hamell started many a band before grasping the amazing appeal of autonomy: the solo musician's ability to write a song and perform it the same evening. After freeing himself from the spiritual and financial burdens of a full band, he found himself with a bunch of new songs and a gig at a benefit concert. "I had never played solo before and never really listened to acoustic music," he recalls. "Every musician in town was going to be there, so, knowing that I was going to be scrutinized, and also to differentiate myself from the James Taylors of the world, I decided to call it Hamell on Trial, figuring it would be a one-time deal. After the show, I was offered a record deal from a local label, something I had never come close to in my band years, so even an idiot like me realized I was on to something, and the name stuck." A serious car accident while touring waylaid Hamell on Trial for a year, during which time he started work on a one-man play. Before he could finish it, however, the European success of Choochtown encouraged him to tour the continent, and an invitation to open a number of U.S. shows for longtime supporter Ani DiFranco led to a live album, Ed's Not Dead/Hamell Comes Alive. 2003 brought his acclaimed Righteous Babe Records debut, Tough Love. Propelled by critical success and his newfound status as a father, Ed conceived his second Righteous Babe Records release, Songs For Parents Who Enjoy Drugs, a record that somehow managed to be both sweet and apocalyptic. Over the course of 2007, Hamell On Trial began moving in a new direction, focusing on the live performance aspect of his music and developing his live set into an hour-long, one-man theatrical production, titled The Terrorism Of Everyday Life, that mixed political music with stand-up comedy and social commentary told through stories from his life and travels. He honed the act in between stints on the road, and in August 2007 Ed Hamell traveled to Scotland to take his show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, one of the oldest festivals for new and outsider performance art. A week of performances ensued, from which Hamell received a slew of outstanding reviews.