The Making of Crawford & James Album Art

When country  music duo Crawford & James needed album artwork to match the rugged, authentic style of their debut LP, we knew the creative process would extend beyond our traditional digital designing process – we took it back to our roots with both handcrafted and handcut artwork made right in our very own studio.

We evoked inspiration from old western signage, tooled leather belts, vintage concert posters and classic album covers. Our quest for the perfect paper left us no choice but to tea-stain it ourselves…right in our very own kitchen. We played with texture, various weights of paper (and flavors of tea!). The result was exactly what we’d hoped – authentic, understated yet totally unique.

Next, we hand-cut several versions of the Crawford & James logo in various types of paper… once we laid the heavy brown against the wrinkled tea stain, we knew we’d found the perfect combo.

You can see the final album artwork here, and check out the accompanying Crawford & James site here.