Songs From the Sea of Cortez

by Old Californio

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1.	Saint Cecilia 04:38	buy track
2.	Broke, Blessed, and Penniless 04:30	buy track
3.	Lyre of Orpheus 05:02	buy track
4.	All the Powers That Be 03:28	buy track
5.	From the Horse's Mouth 04:04	buy track
6.	Fernando and the Cosmic Grass 05:31	buy track
7.	Nature of the Beast 03:24	buy track
8.	Trestles (San Luis Rey) 04:33	buy track
9.	Softly Over the Broken 05:07	buy track
10.	Too Tired 04:02	buy track
11.	A Savage Grace 04:21	buy track
12.	Giving In 04:54	buy track

about

Jangling and earnest, the steam train Old Californio rumbles into a tumble-down station
at the foothills of an unnamed western sierra. Its engineers disembark with a tome for the
citizens slung over their backs, Songs from the Sea of Cortez, an offering of respite in a
dry land. Rich Dembowski, Woody Aplanalp, Justin Smith, Jason Chesney, and Levi
Nunez will build a stage here of wood and iron, harness the voices of water and
mountain, share in the wisdom of wander.
You and I cannot see them, but ghost dogs canter by their sides leaving smudgy nose
imprints on guitar and chrome as they huff for approval. The engineers, descendent from
alchemists and raconteurs, are at once possessed of Bowie’s alien searching, Brian Wilson’s
pastoral mysticism, the Beatles’ introspective psychedelia, but the vaudevillian dust that’s
settled into the grooves of their songs is wholly their own.
And when the music is finally overwhelmed by the crackling fire and morning crows, the
engineers will climb aboard this train again, churning off to dance in the stories of folks
asking whatever god they got within or without to honor them a little peace. Children of
Salinas, nomadic souls from beyond the farthest corners of Steinbeck country, rejoice—
Old Californio has touched the quick. - Jason Carpenter

credits

released December 4, 2020

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about

Old Californio Pasadena, California

From the twang of Bakersfield and the soaring harmonies of the canyon to the distant sounds of mission and ranchero, the music of Old Californio is rock as sweeping as the rolling oak savannas punctuated with the poetry of John Steinbeck and Robinson Jeffers. It’s not just the sound of a western state but the melody of the western state of mind. ... more

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