All posts by CarterHayes

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Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris – Big Mouth Blues

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I don’t think two voices were ever meant more for each other than those of Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris. This video can’t convey the quality of their vocal mix, but thankfully we have Grievous Angel to document the exquisite blend the achieved. That we have any live footage of them at all is close to a miracle; video recording of any performance not intended for television broadcast was pretty darn rare in 1973. This is not the tune I would’ve chosen had any of my favorites been available, but beggars can’t be choosers.

While I was out in the Mojave, I stopped at a site I’ve passed an uncountable number of times, but never properly visited: the Joshua Tree Inn, the place where Gram departed from this plane of existence. The clerk at the desk was very gracious and let me wander through the public spaces, which have a variety of GP memorabilia, and, after obtaining a promise that I not knock on the door of Room 8, let me go out to pay my respects at the shrine outside the place where Gram spent his last days.

 

I’m glad I stopped. Grievous Angel is one of my favorite albums, and Gram came out to his beloved Joshua Tree after finishing the recording sessions that ultimately became that album. I put it on after exiting I-10 onto Route 62. The rest of the story from September 1973 is bizarre and more than a little sad; if you’re going to read about it, choose a reputable source. Gram’s musical dream lives on through people like Emmylou, Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle, Robbie Fulks, and (particularly, in my mind) Sturgill.

3 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 103 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10 (3 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10)
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Orkesta Mendoza – Traicionera

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Let’s depart from the coast and head inland to Fallbrook, where we’ll start to wind north-northeast through the avocado & citrus groves and vineyards of De Luz Canyon, curving up into the Santa Ana Mountains on a private road along Sandia Creek. When we reach Temecula we join CA-79 to head out to the desert via Winchester and Hemet, and finally get onto I-10 at Beaumont. We head east into San Gorgonio Pass, the valley between the southern edge of the San Bernardino Mountains and Mt. San Jacinto, both of which climb from the pass floor to 9,000-foot peaks.

Here we find the climate transitions from one supporting Mediterranean-style agricultural crops into the Mojave desert. It gets hotter with each passing mile, but keep your window down and the A/C on your feet to help acclimatize. We’ll pull off at Cabazon to see the dinosaurs, of course. There’s plenty of wind — and due to that, the San Gogonio Pass wind farm sprawls across the open land on both sides of the freeway, the rows of wind turbines spilling out nearly to the horizon like enormous, rotating mecha-sunflowers.

What better than a tune with some big, gusty brass to push us from the pounding surf through the pass and into the beautiful, treacherous wastes? We get three trumpets, a trombone, and a flugelhorn-wielding accordionist on a ripping hot track. Pair it with some nopales, grilled onion, & charred corn tacos slathered with an extra picante chile guisado & lime crema. Just be careful despising that cactus…

(Oh, right; Sergio Mendoza’s other band is Calexico.)

2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
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Twin Tones – Nómadas

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And that’s the way we start CH Week. My theme this week is music that formed my soundtrack to my recent trip to a conference in San Diego, which I followed with five days out in the Mojave & Sonoran deserts.

Let’s start with a sonic tribute to the drive I took up the coast from UCSD in La Jolla to Colima’s Mexican Food Oceanside. Surf rock is just what we need — we’ll pass three locations mentioned in “Surfin’ U.S.A.” — but let’s make it Latin-inflected in honor of the destination. The route runs straight along the coast, formerly the southernmost portion of Old US-101, now variously called County Route S21, N Torrey Pines Road, Camino del Mar, Highway 101, and North Coast Highway. It’s a beautiful drive — easily worth the extra 15 minutes it’ll take compared to a run up the Five.

Colima’s was the first place I think I can say I had “real” Mexican food, unless we count items made for family meals by dishwashers and prep cooks in various kitchens across the Cities. The Chicano guys in my unit preferred Colima’s to all other local options, and revisiting the hefty Baja and carnitas tacos confirmed they are every bit as delicious as they were sixteen years ago. ¡Gracias por la comida, amigos!

2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 102 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
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Nate Mercereau – Start With You (Duet with the Golden Gate Bridge)

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Nate Mercereau has played sessions with Jay-Z, but I think this one-ups his list of famous collaborators.

The sounds Bay Area residents have described as nuisance noise equivalent to sonic torture are produced by the a new set of railing slats installed on the Golden Gate to retrofit it to withstand sustained winds above 70 mph. The sounds struck Mercereau differently, as Nature itself playing “the largest wind instrument in the world.” Adding an interesting natural wrinkle to a musical controversy, the Golden Gate often sounds an A440 (Hz) concert pitch.

Armed with field recorders, Mercereau & a couple friends captured the sounds from the Marin Highlands, which make up the other half of his album Duets | Golden Gate Bridge. The song performed in this video is a track from Mercereau’s other 2021 album, Sundays.

In response to complaints, the Golden Gate Bridge District is developing engineering adjustments to silence the bridge.

3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 103 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10 (3 votes, average: 8.00 out of 10)
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Dhafer Youssef – Delightfully Odd

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Youssef’s grandfather was a muezzin in his native Tunisia, and that influence is a strong draw for me. For a couple of months, once upon a time, I would end my twelve hour night watches with one last Sumer, savored as the muezzin announced the adhan for Fajr about 75 meters away. Those were some of the most peaceful moments I’ve known.

Youssef’s vocals are incredible — the finesse of his phrasing, the extreme upper falsetto and how cleanly he accesses it, the warmth of his lower range.

Here he’s joined by a knockout trio of future legends — Matt Brewer on bass, Ferenc Nemeth on the kit, & Aaron Parks on the keys.

3 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 103 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10 (3 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)
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