E. Christina Herr & Wild Frontier

From a long time ago…

https://youtu.be/QYj-Nmdq5Ak?si=rgN1kGi3gvmBBFK_

From the Way Back machine…

Tres Volcanes on the Wild Frontier

We’re not sure we understand.

Just another warm day on the Wild Frontier!

It's probably been a while since you listened to this. It holds up pretty well.

Americana Motel album E. Christina Herr & Wild Frontier are the very definition of Americana music today. Pulling references from the many “roots” genres, their latest release, Americana Motel, is a road trip into new terr

A cautionary tale for Earth Day

Ballad of Clara Mae Provided to YouTube by CDBabyBallad of Clara Mae · E Christina Herr & Wild FrontierLullabies & Cautionary Tales℗ 2009 (c) E. Christina HerrReleased on: 2009-...

Happy Birthday, Emmylou Harris!
Christina wants to give you this song.

One Road ReMix This is a remix of a song from "Lullabies & Cautionary Tales", our first album. "One Road" was nominated as Best Country Song by the New Mexico Music Association.

Martin says goodbye to his guitar for six weeks.

Townes Van Zandt would have turned 79 today.
Christina imagined what his life on the road may have been like.
(Named Best Americana Song by NMMA)

Townes “Townes” is a haunting song about the wanderings of songwriter Townes Van Zandt and what his travels through New Mexico may have been like. "Townes" won Best Americana Song at the 2013 New Mexico M

🎶This was a highlight tribute at the Grammies!
I imagine this was actually one of Loretta’s guitars that Kacey Musgraves played while singing Coal Miners Daughter…

David Crosby

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Guinnevere Crosby, Stills & Nash (1969)

Jeff Beck

JEFF BECK LIVE Cause We've Ended As Lovers JEFF BECK LIVE AT RONNIE SCOTT'S 2007.11

We’re at La Parada on Fourth Street until 4!!!

Animal Day at Rail Yard Market.
We’re here till 4!

Rain or shine, we’re at the RailYard Market till 4!

Fall has arrived on the Wild Frontier.

One of Martin’s favorite album!

ON THIS DATE (50 YEARS AGO)
October 11, 1972 – Santana: Caravanserai is released.
# ALL THINGS MUSIC PLUS+ 4.5/5
# Allmusic 4.5/5 stars
# Rolling Stone (see original review below)

Caravanserai is the fourth studio album by Santana, released on October 11, 1972. It reached #8 on the Billboard 200 Top LP’s & Tapes chart and #6 on the Top R&B LP’s chart.
__________

NOTE: To add a bit of perspective to the piece on Caravanserai...

From Peter Egart: My wife passed away last November. She was an early adopter of Yoga back in the 70s. This album was her soundtrack for 5 decades of yoga that she practiced. I think she achieved Santana's goal of inner peace.

Wasn't sure if this fit the essay or maybe an editor's note.
Thanks Richard,
Pete

Santana Caravanserai
Released 11 October 1972
Essay by Peter Egart

Crickets… that’s how side one, track one begins… 30 seconds of crickets. No soaring guitar solo from Carlos Santana, just crickets and then the sound of a lonely saxophone. This was clearly a new sound from the band that stole the show at Woodstock and followed up with a brilliant second album that included “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Como Va.” Their fourth album was not radio-friendly material for 1972.

By the end of side one, we begin to get a picture of the universe from all its many perspectives. The percussion we have come to know from Santana is all there. Beginning with the second track, we hear Carlos do his runs on lead guitar that he attributed to his father’s insistence on learning the violin at age 5. He told Guitar World magazine that “hearing the electric guitar for the first time was “an assault on the senses” and “gateway to eternity.”

Produced by Santana and the drummer that mesmerized us all in the Woodstock movie, Michael Shrieve, the album appears to seamlessly move from song to song as one thought. Many band members contributed to the song writing and, in a collective fashion, credits go to multiple members for each song. And yet, the band was falling apart.

Two of the original members of the group, percussionist Michael Carabello and bassist David Brown, had already left the band when they entered the studio. After this album, guitarist Neil Schon (18 years old at the time) and keyboardist, Gregg Rolie would form Journey.

Caravanserai would be the band’s undoing, but what a beautiful legacy they left us.

This writer’s favorite in their entire catalog, the album becomes richer with every listen. The soaring end to side one begins with “Just in Time to See the Sun” – a song that can lift anyone out of the dark and into a beautiful place. Then what could be Carlos’s most expressive solo in “Song of the Wind,” written by Santana, Rolie and Schon, lifts us even further into this universe that we began to glimpse in those first few minutes of track one: “Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation.” The final cut on side one, “All the Love of the Universe” seals the deal:

New thoughts
Will purify my mind
And clean my body
New lives
Will fall together like an endless story
All the love of the universe
Will be shared by all that’s living

Much later in Rolie’s career, he reflected on how at the time, he thought the direction of the album was a mistake: “The other point is that personally we were all upside down. Carlos puts it well these days when he says, “We didn’t treat each other too good.” That’s exactly it. It was too much too soon. We had the world by the balls and didn’t realize it. That’s what happened. But talk about having a moment in time? I was so proud of what was created with this. So proud.” (Rolling Stone, 21 Nov 2019)

From “The Story behind Caravanserai,” in the excellent music blog The Music Aficionado, we learn about the origin of the album’s name: In the Near East, the word Caravanserai means a large courtyard that provides accommodation for caravans, or simply a group of people travelling together. But Carlos Santana found a different meaning for it when he was reading a text by Indian yogi and guru Paramahansa Yogananda: “The caravan is the eternal cycle of reincarnation, every soul going into and out of life, from death to life and back again, until you arrive at a place where you can rest and achieve an inner peace. That place is the caravanserai.”

The final song on the album might be their most profound and moving instrumental: “Every Step of the Way.” It was Carlos’ favorite on the album. In his biography The Universal Tone Santana says of the tune: “For two reasons my favorite song on Caravanserai is Every Step of the Way – first because it sounds like what we really loved back then: Herbie Hancock’s Crossings. The song also reminds me of Shrieve because he wrote it and because of how we played together.”

The members of Santana created a timeless piece of music in Caravanserai. To this day, every listen feels like your first time. There is something so calming when the needle drops to the sound of crickets and sax… I know I just need to settle in, empty my thoughts, and let the music take me to that other place “where I can rest and achieve inner peace.”
__________

TRACKS:
Side one
1. "Eternal Caravan of Reincarnation" (Tom Rutley, Neal Schon, Michael Shrieve) - 4:28
2. "Waves Within" (Doug Rauch, Gregg Rolie, Carlos Santana) - 3:54
3. "Look Up (To See What's Coming Down)" (Rauch, Rolie, Santana) - 3:00
4. "Just in Time to See the Sun" (Rolie, Santana, Shrieve) - 2:18
5. "Song of the Wind" (Rolie, Santana, Schon) - 6:04
6. "All the Love of the Universe" (Santana, Schon) - 7:40

Side two
1. "Future Primitive" (José Areas, Mingo Lewis) - 4:12
2. "Stone Flower" (Antônio Carlos Jobim (music); Santana, Shrieve (lyrics) - 6:15
3. "La Fuente del Ritmo" (Lewis) - 4:34
4. "Every Step of the Way" (Shrieve) - 9:05

Early morning on the Wild Frontier

How true.

http://www.coverbandcentral.com

Another night on the Wild Frontier

Another day of infamy

“It was the third of September…”

A blast from the past. Whiskey Flats from Christina and Martin at a coffee shop.

Whiskey Flats by E. Christina Herr with Martin Rowell Whiskey Flats is from Lullabies & Cautionary Tales, the first album by E. Christina Herr & Wild Frontier.This is an acoustic version by Christina and Martin ...

We are so sad to share that our friend and drummer Troy Rachau has passed away.

When we met him and had just one rehearsal before a gig, Troy had a question no other drummer had ever asked, "What should I wear?" He always had great style.

From there we played small clubs, outdoor festivals and auditoriums...all with Troy's rock steady beat and perfect fills.
It was a joy being on stage with him.

Troy stuck with us for the thirteen months it took to record the Americana Motel album, patiently playing take after take as the songs took shape. His skill and hard work is a main reason the album was a success. Also, he introduced us to Pedal Steel Players Daryl Davidson and Johnny Hogan who lent so much color to our soundscape.
His efforts directly led to our win for NM Music Awards Best Americana Song in 2012.

Check out "State Trooper" which features Troy.
It took fourteen sessions and every kind of percussion instrument he could lay his hands on.
https://soundcloud.com/e-christina-herr/state-trooper-1

Troy you are missed.

Americana Motel album E. Christina Herr & Wild Frontier are the very definition of Americana music today. Pulling references from the many “roots” genres, their latest release, Americana Motel, is a road trip into new terr

Duster and his brother in October, and Duster on National Rescue Dog Day, 5/20.

May 4th

Ohio Provided to YouTube by Rhino AtlanticOhio · Crosby, Stills, Nash & YoungSo Far℗ 1974 Atlantic Recording CorporationEngineer, Producer: Bill HalversonBass Gu...

Wild Frontier supports Ukraine!

Townes Van Zandt would have turned 78 today.
Christina's homage to him.

Townes “Townes” is a haunting song about the wanderings of songwriter Townes Van Zandt and what his travels through New Mexico may have been like. "Townes" won Best Americana Song at the 2013 New Mexico M