Musician Joseph Arthur, in a nice bit of alliteration, will add artist and author to his already-impressive list of credits with the publication of his first book of illustrations, We Almost Made It. The book will be released May 18 by 14th Floor Publishing , and will come packaged with The Invisible Parade, a new, 21-track instrumental album by Arthur. The book will be limited to 5,000 copies.

In a press release, Arthur said the project was unusual: "Typically a package is built to support and protect the music; this was the other way around. The music was built to support and protect the package. In a digital age this could be considered a throwback to a time when the artwork was important." Fans of Arthur's music have also been collectors of work by Arthur, who creates paintings on stage during performances. Arthur was nominated for Best Recording Package Grammy in 1999 for his EP Vacancy.

www.josepharthur.com