This album consists of 16 songs that I wrote between December, 2014 and early August, 2015. As with all of my albums, this one consists of a mix of mostly songs about recent events and notable historical events. Songs about recent events include a lot of massacres, as they often do. North Carolina ("Angry White American Man"), South Carolina ("State House Lawn"), Suruc, Turkey ("Kobane"), and Paris ("Before the War Came Home"), as well as the murder of Eric Garner in New York ("I Can't Breathe"). The songs about historical events in this album include the song I wrote in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the execution by firing squad of Swedish-American labor organizer, songwriter, and cartoonist Joe Hill. Otherwise, the focus on this album is on various aspects of the Second World War. Reflecting on the refugees dying in the Mediterranean, I wrote "Denmark, 1943," about the successful boat lift of the vast majority of the Jews of Denmark to Sweden. After hearing the Japanese-American actor and activist George Takei speak in downtown Portland, I wrote "Liberty and Justice For All," about the internment of his and thousands of other Japanese and Japanese-American families in the US during the war. The other two WWII-related songs are about two of my friend Katharina's grandparents, both of whom spent much of their lives between prison and concentration camps for being communists in a country taken over by fascists. "Frieden und Freiheit" is about Katharina's grandfather, Franz Jacob, who was executed in 1944. "They All Sang the Internationale" is about Katharina's grandmother and namesake, who just barely managed to survive the war and live a full life afterward. The Other Side was recorded, mixed and mastered at Big Red Studio in Corbett, Oregon, with the studio's owner, Billy Oskay, at the helm as chief engineer and producer, with Eric Broestl, assistant engineer and Paul Troxel, studio intern. Billy was also the one who played all those lovely violin and viola tracks. The folks singing harmonies are Portland-based musicians, Spank and Janice Hopkins. On upright bass is Arcellus Sykes, also of Portland. David Rovics is playing all the guitar parts and lead vocals. Usually at the same time. He wrote all the songs, too, with the exception of "The Ball is Round," which was co-written by Kristian von Svensson of Malmo, Sweden. Cover art made and donated by Alexander Elsaesser and Silvan Zurbriggen of Bern, Switzerland.