Songwriter-performer John Scheaffer was influenced at a young age by live polka and gospel music played during family reunions in the coal regions of Pennsylvania. His new-found love of music carried on as he listened to his father’s vast collection of Country, Blues, R&B and Classic Rock & Roll records.

Scheaffer spent several years in LA collaborating and playing with various bands before settling in NYC and signing on with Mother West. The Past Ain't Far, Ceramic's first, full length record, produced by Scheaffer and Charles Newman (Magnetic Fields), offers its listeners a resonant set of songs that move fluidly from alt. pop rock to rustic dream ballads to blues and rock dirges.