Michigan-based hard rock quartet TAPROOT has posted the first in a series of clips showing the journey to the group's new album, "Our Long Road Home". Each "chapter" will highlight a different part of the band's evolution, beginning with Chapter 1 (see below), which covers the years before TAPROOT signed its deal with Atlantic Records. At the end of each week's video, you will be able to hear a clip of a brand new song from "Our Long Road Home", which comes out September 16.

"Wherever I Stand", the first single from < "Our Long Road Home", has been posted on the group's MySpace page.

The follow-up to 2005's "Blue-Sky Research", "Our Long Road Home" will be released through Velvet Hammer, the label founded by the management company of the same name (SYSTEM OF A DOWN, DEFTONES).

Working with producer Tim Patalan (SPONGE, LOVEDRUG), the band penned more than fifty songs for the album, twelve of which were recorded in a converted barn just a few minutes down the road from vocalist/guitarist Stephen Richards' home.

"Our Long Road Home" reveals a revitalized band with a broadened range and deepened perspective. The album combines the feral ("Take It") with the grandiose ("Footprints") while exploring themes of loss ("Be The One"), liberation ("Run To") and the emotional carnage in-between. On tracks such as "Hand That Holds True" and smoldering lead single "Wherever I Stand", TAPROOT blends iron-fisted backbeats, honeyed melodies and speaker-shattering guitars to thrilling effect.

After recording three albums for a major label, "Our Long Road Home" will be TAPROOT's first as an indie band, and as Richards tells it, that suits them just fine. "Budget cuts and political shifts cost us our support system at the old place," he says. "When our A&R guy lost his job, we knew it was time for a change. A few years ago, that might've been a scary thing, but it's a brand-new world out there now for bands like us. We no longer have to rely on a big record company to make things happen and that's exciting. We made this record without the pressure of having to write four smash hit singles hanging over our heads and that was liberating. Of course," he laughs, "there are a few songs on the album that could do really well on radio."

With "Our Long Road Home", TAPROOT is staying true to their roots, while keeping their grooves current and hearts open. "There's a sense of energy and excitement about us that we haven't felt since we released our first album," says Richards. "We're ready to hit the ground running."