musicians including David Kilgour of The Clean, Chris Knox of Tall Dwarfs, Graeme Downes of The Verlaines, Robert Scott of The Bats, and David Mitchell and Denise Roughan of The 3Ds. The resulting album, In New Zealand, was released in 1999. Manning's solo album 1212 was released on Matador in 1997 with Burns and Convertino backing her. The album's 19-minute song cycle, "The Arsonist's Story" was conceived as a rock opera, told from the points of view of a troubled teenager and her equally troubled mother. Aside from the rock-opera aspect, the album paid tribute to Manning's fondness for Krautrock. "Stammtisch" lays lyrics in English and German over a jam based on a riff by German band Neu!, and a cover of Amon Düül's "Marcus Leid" was included as well. Several more diverse cover songs were featured, including Richard Thompson's "End of the Rainbow," The Bevis Frond's "Stain on the Sun," and an obscure Deviants' single from 1969, "First Line (Seven the Row)." A Salon review referred to Manning's ballad “Isn’t Lonely Lovely?” as the album's standout, describing her lyrics as being set to "a majestic, echoing landscape." With her growing catalog, Option Magazine said she had "helped pioneer the type of lo-fi, post-modern folkstress approach later championed by [songwriters like] Juliana Hatfield and Liz Phair." But despite critical acclaim, Manning was dropped from Matador due to low album sales. 2000–present: The Go-Luckys! and The Sleaze Tax Manning lived in Stuttgart, Germany, where she had a strong fan base, from 1998 to 2001. During that time, she recorded and toured with her band The Go-Luckys!, its rhythm section made up of twin brothers, Flavio and Fabrizio Steinbach. In four years they released four albums, Homeless Is Where the Heart Is (2000), You Should Know by Now (2001), Transatlantic Trips (2002), One Starry Night At The Shop (2003), and one five-song EP, A Mountain. While working on her degree in biology at California State University, Chico in 2008, Manning fronted a new rock band, The Sleaze Tax (a reference to creatures from the 1970s TV show Land of the Lost), with drummer Mike Erpino and bassist Jason Wooten. The band recorded some songs and played live on the west coast but no album was forthcoming. She also formed two short-lived bands, Champion, with guitarist Loki Miller and drummer Charles Mohnike, and Fiberglass Jacket, with drummer Justin "Dusty" Evans and guitarist Tom