Singer/songwriters
Deb Talan and
Steve Tannen, both of whom had released solo material before banding together to form the folk-pop duo
the Weepies, first met at one of
Tannen's shows in Cambridge, MA. At the time,
Tannen was touring in support of his debut record,
Big Señorita. Mutual admirers of each other's music, the two musicians started writing songs together immediately, and soon
the Weepies took shape. The pair independently issued an eight-song album,
Happiness, in 2003, and two years later they were signed to Nettwerk Records. In December 2005 the label digitally pre-released
Say I Am You, which was recorded in a rented cottage in Pasadena, CA, and the physical album version followed in March 2006. After spending the rest of that year on the road,
Talan and
Tannen returned to California and spent the entirety of 2007 in a flurry of activity: they got married, worked on new material, wrote songs for
Mandy Moore's
Wild Hope, and had a baby. The following year saw the release of their new record,
Hideaway, in April. ~ Marisa Brown, All Music Guide