A lean-to is a term used to describe a roof with a single slope. The term also applies to a variety of structures that are built using a lean-to roof.

One type of structure is free standing with only three walls and a sloping roof. The open side is commonly oriented away from the prevailing winds and rains. Often it is a rough structure made of logs or unfinished wood and used as a camping shelter. Temporary structures made from wood or textiles are also termed lean-tos if constructed with a single slope of the roof. In some cases the sloping roof often extends all the way to the ground. Thus the sloping roof itself forms one of the three walls.

It can also refer to a shed with a sloping roof and three walls that abut the wall of another structure. This form of lean-to is generally provisional; it is an appendix to an existing building constructed to fulfill a new need. Sometimes they cover external staircases, as is the case with the lean-to building built in the 15th century against one of the walls of the large chapter room of the cathedral of Meaux. Sometimes, they are built to protect entrances or to establish covered markets around certain large civic buildings.

Richard Buckner is an American singer-songwriter born in California. After living in Edmonton, Alberta for a number of years, he currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. A critically acclaimed artist hailed by Bon Iver as a big influence and most often associated with the alternative country movement, Buckner had in recent albums eschewed his initial acoustic approach and displayed an increasing interest in more abstract music styles until reintegrating his acoustic approach on 2011's "Our Blood".

Buckner's career began with Bloomed (1994), a lyrically-dense suite of songs recorded in Lubbock, Texas (produced by Lloyd Maines) and heavily influenced by that state's tradition of whiskey-soaked poet/troubadors, probably best embodied by Townes Van Zandt. (Since 1999, the album has been kept in print (with additional bonus tracks) by Rykodisc offshoot Slow River Records at Buckner's request, the artwork on the back cover was edited to remove his then-girlfriend from the picture.) In January 1996, while living in San Francisco, he recorded an album's worth of acoustic songs, all of which would reappear in more fully realized forms on his second and third albums. This CD was self-produced and self-released, and was sold exclusively at his early shows.