After the demise of his long-time group, the Freddy Jones Band, Chicago native Marty Lloyd took the initiative to begin a solo career and started work on his debut album, Marigold, in his home studio. He courted veteran producer Justin Niebank (with whom he worked during his tenure in the Freddy Jones Band), his former FJB bandmate Rob Bonaccorsi, Michael Rhodes of Shawn Colvin's group, and others to help piece Marigold together. Due to Lloyd's previous experience in the music industry, he chose not to shop the recording to labels until it was completely finished to avoid sacrificing his vision, and it paid off when Razor &Tie released Marigold in May of 2003.