Magnet's main creative force is singer/songwriter/guitarist Mark Goodman. However, the group has counted among its contributors musicians like Mo Tucker, who played drums on the 1997 debut Don't Be a Penguin, and Trip Shakespeare's Matt Wilson, who produced the following year's Which Way EP. Goodman's jangly, quirky songs also lent themselves perfectly to collaborating with David Lowery, who brought along fellow Cracker members Bob Rupe and Johnny Hickman and Camper Van Beethoven violinist Jonathan Segel to flesh out Magnet's sound on the 1999 album Shark Bait.