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Photo 'Pojoaque Sky' by Heather Spalding
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The 2002 CD release from Before the Rain
"Hitchin' to Santa Fe" is a collection of original songs by
Richard B. Ball and Tyson Bennett performed and recorded by Before the
Rain.
"Hitchin' to Santa Fe" is dedicated to the memory of our dear
friend Norma Sobesky.
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The songs:
- Skinwalker
- Secret Bells of Time
- The Bone Game
- Friday By the Railroad Tracks
- Hitchin' to Santa Fe
- Walking Together in the Snow
- Legend of the Three Legged Coyote
- Pictures of Before
- Cry of the Wounded Healer
- Sad Eyed Fried and an Angel
- Bayati Blues
- Saved by Friends
- Wichita Tango
- Portraits of Cynthia
- Postcards from Sarajevo
- One Thing Leads to Another (Forever in a Circle)
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About the songs
Hitchin' to Santa Fe
"Hitchin' to Santa Fe" is based on several Flamenco motifs
combined with jazz/rock rhythms and improvisation. It incorporates the
classical guitar, alto saxophone and drum rhythms that vary from East
Indian to free jazz beats on the drum set.
'Hitchin' to Santa Fe' was
inspired by the drive between Taos and Santa Fe, before it was destroyed
by the casinos, that is varied and powerful. It recalls the history of the
Native Americans and the Spanish explorers and missionaries that left a
power that rings with medieval European mythology and rich, earthy
spiritualism. It has a 'free' section in the middle inspired by an eagle
flying fast over the pueblos and mountains and forests and red
earth.
Photo by Amy
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Friday by the Railroad Tracks
This gritty tune is our attempt at a pro-union song. It
outlines the life of a blue-collar family, broken apart by the demands of
of a job. This song features Meckles on the drum set, Chico on the steel
string guitar, Gusto on rhythm guitar, Keys and Dr. Igg!'s brother on
voice, harmonica and the doghouse bass.
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Bayati Blues
This is based on a Central Asian and Bayati motif. The
Bayat people are one of seventy or so ethnic groups that live in the
Caucauses mountains. It features Dr. IGG!'s brother on the Tar, an eight
stringed, skin covered instrument used in music from Armenia to Iran. It
metamorphosizes, showcasing a solo by Keys and then goes into a minor
blues with some dinking around by Chico and Meckles and then by Dr. IGG!'s
brother on the sax. We feel it is another piece in our world-beat jazz
puzzle.
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Walking Together in the Snow
This was the first composition witten for "The Cornerboys"
by Dr. IGG!'s brother when the trio was breaking away from playing Gypsy
and Celtic tunes and triying its hand at some jazz. It features Dr. IGG!'s
brother on the alto sax, bass and eleven-stringed guitar; Chico on the
guitar, Keys on the piano, and Meckles on the drums. The song got its name
as it was primarly composed by Dr. IGG!'s brother out of boredom while
walking in the snow on an ill-fated date.
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Sad Eyed Friend and an Angel
Acrylic on canvas by Rico
This short ballad is a
memorial to Norma Sobesky, an educator we all worked for, and who inspired
us in many ways. Norma loved angels, and she is now our guardian angel.
The song features Dr. IGG!'s brother on the alto sax, and tries to capture
the dignity, strength and nurturing that were all characteristics of
Norma.
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Wichita Tango
This song has been in our repertoire for some time, but
never really found its voice until the recent addition of Keys on a Cuban
piano line. It's not really a Tango at all... in fact it was originally
written as a ballad, but we just kept playing it meaner and faster. It is
called Wichita in honor of the Wichita jazz festival, from which Dr.
IGG!'s brother had the honor of being forceably removed in 1982 after
flinging toast at Spyro Gyra.
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One Thing Leads to Another (Forever in a Circle)
This Keys composition is a keyboard tour-de-force,
featuring Keys on four or five tracks backed up by Meckles and some sexy
rhythm guitar licks from Chico. Dr. IGG!'s brother is on the flute solo in
the third of four distinct sections... It starts with a 'seventies jazz'
section featuring some slick organ work, and then goes to a complex
'Riverdance' part, which has several layers of cool keyboard stuff. Then
there is a quick swing section, where Keys and Dr. IGG!'s brother trade
solos, and Keys backs himself up with organ, electric guitar and piano;
and it wraps up after a short drum solo with a 'disco' section. The ending
is intentionally abrupt.
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Portraits of Cynthia
There are people in everybody's lives who left an impression,
and to whom one's mind harkens back with the inevitable question 'I wonder
were she is now?' This song begins with an introduction called 'Years of
Quiet Remorse,' a sort of self-kick-in-the-pants for letting relationships
fade away with no goodbyes... in fact, I bet our last words were probably
something like "call me," or "I'll see you soon!"
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Postcards from Sarajevo
This tune features Dr. IGG!'s brother on the clarinet and
Meckles on the dumbek (a north African folk drum made of clay, with a goat
skin head.) It is based on traditional scales from the Bosnian Muslims and
Gypsies and demonstrates the Asian influence still prevalent in this
country which is recovering from the ravages of war and ethnic cleansing.
This song was inspired by Dr. IGG!'s brother's recollection of a Bosnian
man on the streets of Budapest who had fled the early days of the fighting
and was trying to collect money by playing his clarinet on the street. It
is dedicated to a friend who was there during the last attacks on the
city. She was there over the winter without heat. Though I didn't actually
get postcards from her, I did get letters written on Bosnian toilet paper
and the like. As she observed, "Postacrd from Sarajevo" sounds more poetic
that "Letters written on toilet paper from the Serbian Border." This song
is a message of hope for the people of Bosnia and for people suffering
oppression everywhere. |
Secret Bells of Time
One of our earlier songs, but never before recorded, this
vehicle for Chico's soloing guitar is a rather upbeat jazz number with
Dr.IGG!'s brother on bass and rhythm guitar, keys on a rotary jazz organ
and Meckles on the djembe and dumbek. |
Skinwalker
Acrylic by Rico the Chainsaw
"Skinwalker" is a term
that refers to a shapeshifter or ghost in the Navajo tradition. This song
is based on my own real or imagined encounters with skinwalkers while
camping in Ute and Navajo territory. It begins with a mysterious guitar
riff which gives way to a jagged saxophone line and a a sax solo that
attempts to capture some of the terror felt by the people about the
skinwalkers. Keys then takes a free-form solo while Dr. IGG!'s brother
jumps on the bass. The song then has a break and a drum beat which many
Native people believe signifies the heart of the earth. This is broken
into by the bass as the song becomes a funk piece featuring Chico on the
lazer style guitar. It wraps up with a repetition of the jagged sax line
and goes out where it began. |
Cry of the Wounded Healer
In many Siberian, Cetic, Native American and other
cultures, a person receives a calling to become a healer while themselves
being injured or ill. Furthermore, it is often the duty of the healer to
take on the illness of the person being treated, doing battle with the
unseen forces that bring about unbalance. As an epilogue to 'Skinwalker,'
which explores pain and fear, this is a cry of hope to all who are
suffering.
The piece starts with improvised strings by Keys. Then Dr.
IGG!'s brother plays the melody on the Navajo Flute. The guitar rhythms of
Chico and percussion effects by Meckles round this piece out.
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Legends of the Three-Legged Coyote
Photo by Meckles
A remarkably long time in the
works for what came out, this rambling saga features Dr. IGG!'s brother on
the accordion, voice and bowed bass. Chico and Gusto are on guitars, with
Chico on the lead flamenco riff. Meckles is on the djembe and dumbek and
Keys is on the piano, including the odd little piano interlude in the
middle. |
Saved By Friends
Our friends often provide us with the ultimate kindness.
They save us from ourselves. They tell us when our breath stinks and
change the subject when we are saying something stupid, and tell us to
stop wallowing in self-pity. But very often, our friends save us in a much
deeper and more meaningful way. This song is another old Cornerboys tune
with Dr. IGG!'s brother on the flute, Chico on the guitar and Meckes on
the drums. This version is spiced up by Keys and his cool latin riffs. We
want to thank our Cuban friends for saving us from music without fire!
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Pictures of Before
Photo by Meckles
This is a song about changes in
relationships, probably the most often addressed issue in all music and
poetry. It is a ballad which just never worked until we put Keys on the
job and employed the voice of Jim-O. It also includes the rhythm of
Meckles and Chico and has Dr. IGG!'s brother on the bowed bass and
electric bass. |
The Bone Game
Acrylic by Rico the Chainsaw
This is an example of
Gypsy meets post-modern. A driving, Gypsy-inspired riff played on the
mandolin by Chico anchors the 'outside' electric piano played by Dr.
IGG!'s brother and the free-form percussion of Meckles and Gusto. The name
is from a secret society ritual of a group of Nothwest Native Americans.
The composition sort of grew away from its roots, but the name was cool
enough that it stuck. |
