Delevantes hope life begins (almost) at 40  

"All of sudden, it all made sense to us," says Bob. "It was a home for us down here. We always wanted to work with pedal steel players, and they're hard to come by in New Jersey."

The two hooked up with Rounder thanks to Robert Oermann, a very well known country journalist. He told the head of Rounder, Ken Irwin, about the duo.

"He caught our show, and we just started talking about it," Mike says. "He said he wanted to do a record. It was something that easy."

The Delevantes thought recording for Rounder would be a smarter move than going with a major. "We knew what we were doing was pretty different, so we decided it would be a great way to go," Mike says.

While happy with Rounder, the brothers wanted to go with a Nashville label. "That was really important to us," Mike says. "I feel it's the contact you had (that) is really really important."

The person who signed them to a writing deal in 1993 also inked them to Capitol. "He knew what we were about and what we were doing," says Mike. "He kept his eye out for what we were doing. He approached us when it was time to do another one."

While well aware of the cynicism about Nashville labels going bland and pop, Mike says he believes in the people at Capitol. "I feel the people who work here really like the music...They are really excited about working with something they actually like. I feel that here."

Often, a record could be made or broken by how hard a label works for the artist.

Capitol left the Delevantes alone in recording the album. "It would be one thing if Capitol said if you have to write with what's his name or get a song from what's his name. None of that has happened," Mike says. "Everything is exactly the same thing as the first record. We liked it that way, and they liked it that way."

Mike says Capitol understands the Delevantes are unlike their other acts. "They understand they are not going to go about it the same way as marketing Trace Adkins," he says.

The disc will be marketed at AAA (adult album alternative) radio, Americana and some country stations.

They plan to tour in Europe in late summer and early fall and hit the States as well.

With much at stake, Bob is hopeful the move to Capitol was a smart one. "Are you pleased with what you did? Are you proud of what you did? We are both of those. This is allowing us to take it to another level hopefully and still doing it on our terms."

Which could prove the old adage correct: life begins at 40.