Nine years after we made Ackworth, Rob and I realized we had enough tracks lying around to make a follow-up. Spanning about five years, Au Naturel was comprised of recordings made during Rob’s semi-annual trips to Des Moines as Steve and I built Trifecta Studio.

Rob and I struggled over the identity of our duo: we had recorded three albums as the audubon society, and a fourth as misunderstanding. We agreed that neither name truly reflected what we wanted our music to be about. Finally, in a moment of inspiration, we found that the identity we wanted to project was just that: ourselves. We became Smith & Straughn.

Au Naturel was compiled, packaged and ready when we played our first live gig ever at the Barnes & Noble Café in Des Moines in the summer of 2001.