By naming this album ‘Commons’ Old Salt attempt to boil down that what is most important to them as friends, and as a band from different cultures; these ‘commons’ being the natural and cultural resources that all members of a society can draw from, fostered and served in common, for and by all people.

Inspired by these cultural commons, they play both traditional music and write originals with themes that address the issues that are important to them today. Some songs are about personal and projected stories, telling the experience of moving into the unknown (Shades), that of confusion and commitment in love (Thin Ice); other songs are about the perpetual tragedy of people being forced to embark on perilous journeys leaving everything behind (Cherokee Trail), or about the disparity between ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ of our cruel economic systems which feed on the poor at the expense of empathy (Grow); songs that celebrate our conscious farmers (Farmer’s Anthem); and finally songs that simply pay their respect to the cultural commons of folk music.