"Rains Around Here" was an unreleased track recorded at The Sound of Music sessions in 1987. It didn't seem to fit in on the album, and there was never a second single released for it to be a B-side on. It's one of the hardest rock tracks The dB's ever recorded, and features perhaps Gene Holder's wildest guitar solo ever. Written about acid rain, the song is spot on for New Orleans these days. 

"About the dB's"

The dB's were a power pop group of the late 1970s and 1980s. The bandmembers were Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, Will Rigby and Gene Holder, all of whom were from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The group was formed in New York City. A great friend to the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund, Peter Holsapple is now located in North Carolina after suffering devastating losses to Katrina.

Stamey played bass with Alex Chilton in New York during 1977, and with Television guitarist Richard Lloyd recorded "(I Thought) You Wanted to Know" that year. A single of this song, backed with "If and When" (on which Rigby and Holder played), appeared in 1978, credited to Chris Stamey and the dB's. Holsapple joined the group in October 1978.

They released their first album, Stands for Decibels, in 1981, to critical acclaim but negligible sales. Their sound was a modernized version of earlier power pop, with precise arrangements and highly accomplished instrumental work. Stamey and Holsapple were the band's songwriters, and while Holsapple was skilled in the composing of fairly straightforward tunes such as "Big Brown Eyes" and "Bad Reputation," Stamey's songs, which include "Espionage" and "Tearjerkin'," tended to be somewhat more experimental. They released a second album in 1982, Repercussion, which built upon the strengths of the first album, and also released singles such as "Judy." These two albums, recorded on the British label Albion, have since been reissued on one compact disc.

Stamey left the group after the second album, and pursued a career as a solo artist and producer. The group then recorded a third album, Like This, released in 1984. The band had finally landed an American record deal, Bearsville, but distribution woes caused the album to be greatly delayed. Rick Wagner joined the band on bass, and Holder moved to lead guitar.
The final CD released while the dB's were together was The Sound of Music in 1987 with New Orleans bass player Jeff Beninato, founder of the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund. Again under Holsapple's direction, this is perhaps the band's most traditional pop album. Jeff Beninato of NOMRF participated in the subsequent tour. Gene Holder left the band to join the Individuals, and Eric Peterson was recruited on lead guitar after replacing temporary guitarist/keyboardist Harold Kelt. Holsapple ended up moving to Beninato's home town of New Orleans after living in Los Angeles toward the end of the band's career.

Since the group's demise, Holsapple has worked as a session musician, issued one solo album, and was a member of the Continental Drifters. He currently tours with Hootie and the Blowfish. Stamey has released solo records and is a record producer. Rigby is a respected drummer, playing for Steve Earle and others, and Holder has continued to record and produce. Beninato produced New Orleans guitar collective Twangorama and founded NOMRF. 

Although the dB's enjoyed only a limited popularity, their recordings were held in high esteem by critics. Robert Christgau, reviewing their first album, said "This is pop at its tensest--the precise harmonies, broken rhythms, and Byrdsy zoom effects are drawn so tight they make the expertly rendered romantic ups and downs of the songs sound intense and earned."

Trouser Press favorably reviewed the recording with: "The Sound of Music finds the dB's continuing in the style of Like This, with similarly fine results. The country elements reappear on "Bonneville" (complete with fiddles and mandolins), "Never Before and Never Again" (a brilliant Holsapple duet with Syd Straw) and "Looked at the Sun Too Long," which could easily be mistaken for a Gram Parsons tune. There's still plenty of great pop, too, and the group gets heavy on "Any Old Thing."

The band reunited in 2005, and has been recording a new album. The band recorded a moving version of What Becomes of the Brokenhearted to benefit the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund. The song is available on iTunes and has helped provide help to hundreds of displaced musicians.

November, 2006 saw the release of "Christmastime," an updated version of an album released in the eighties with contributions from Mitch Easter, Ryan Adams, and many other guests. It was reviewed and recommended by USA Today in December, 2006.
In September, 2005 the "classic" lineup of the dB'S played two shows in Chicago, and two in Hoboken, New Jersey. The Bowery Ballroom in NYC hosted the dB'S in January 2007, and in February 2007 the dB's performed at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro NC. Work on the new album continues as time allows.