3hattrio
dark desert night
1. Get Back Home (3:11)
2. Carry Me Away (2:26)
3. Nothing (2:39)
4. Tammy’s Sister (4:03)
5. Off the Map (3:33)
6. White Pressing Down (3:34)
7. Western City Nights (3:59)
8. Get on the Bus (3:38)
9. Sand Storm (6:26)
10. Left Texas (3:54)
11. Crippled-up Blues (2:18)
Genre: American Desert Music
Greg Istock – acoustic bass, foot percussion, vocals
Hal Cannon – guitars, banjos, vocals
Eli Wrankle - violin
2015 ©3hattrio–all rights reserved
3hattrio
3hattrio plays what we call American Desert Music. Our aim is to create a new genre which responds to the natural world of our sacred homeland near Zion National Park in Utah. We also strive to acknowledge the cultural traditions of the generations who have worked and lived on the deserts of the American southwest. The subject matter of our songs is often desert oriented, sometimes not. Mostly, we express a daily-ness of watching light play off distant mesas and hearing sound reverberate from sheer sandstone cliffs. We don’t over-think it. We just play music.
We live in a place marked by a great and lasting indigenous imprint. We don’t attempt to perform the music of the nomadic Native peoples who have lived here for centuries. We are modern-day settlers. From our vantage we are not all that different than other pioneers who came from diverse places to create community. We draw on our various musical backgrounds and our shared need to find sociability in an isolated place. We strive to create something that is truly American but also new.
Greg Istock recorded and produced this CD. He sings, plays acoustic bass and wrote many of the songs. His musical background comes from African traditions developed in the Caribbean and South. He is also a visual artist and lives on the edge of the Virgin River in southern Utah
Hal Cannon sings, plays banjos and guitars and also wrote many of the songs. He is a folklorist and scholar of cowboy and Western folk music and poetry and has played old-time, old-West music for years. He also produces radio documentaries for Radio National in Australia. He lives in a pecan orchard in Virgin, Utah
Eli Wrankle plays violin and grew up in a family of artists in Toquerville, Utah. He recently graduated from high school where he served as concert master of the Hurricane High School Orchestra. He plans to continue playing and studying music at Southern Utah University. He may be the oldest soul in the group.
Thanks to our families for their support – Val, Russell, Lori, Ella, Brynn and Teresa. Thanks to our friends in Zion Canyon for supporting us. Gratitude goes to the Ucross Foundation, Ucross, Wyoming, where Hal and Greg wrote several of the songs during a composers’ residency in November, 2014.
Credits: final mix by Michael Greene, mastered by James S. Anderson at the Bit Farm, photographs by Alex Santiago, album design by Sandy Bell, cover collage by Greg Istock, manufactured at One Stop CD Shop LLC.
Lyrics
1. Get Back Home (words–Istock; music–Cannon/Istock ASCAP)
It’s a long way to Minor Station
Twenty-five people lost without a trace
I know Jack saw the wind change, when he left
He said I’ve walked this river for all of my days
Chorus
We all wait wishing for light, now there’s only more rain
This ragin’ river won’t let us in down there to try to save anything
It’s a long night waiting
(How you gonna’ get back home)
So many people tried in vain
(How you gonna’ get back home)
It’s a long time waiting for them
(How you gonna’ get back home)
So many people tried to warn Jack
(How you gonna’ get back home)
Chorus
Wishin’ for life
Ragin’ river won’t let us in
2. Carry Me Away (words and music–traditional; arrangement–Cannon/Istock ASCAP). This song is an old British ballad about murder, deceit, attempted suicide and revenge. Our version is loosely based on a recording made by John Lomax of some young girls in the Gant family from Austin, Texas, especially intriguing for its mention of same-sex attraction in the first verse. Usually this song contains a detail about sucking marrow out of bones to make the old man blind. We chose to leave that out and cut to the chase.
There was an old woman, in London she did dwell
She loved her old man dearly but another man’s wife as well
She went to the drug store to see what she could find
Something from the doctor to make her old man blind
Dim-dum-di-de-rae, carry me away
The light is growing dimmer, I cannot see the ground
I’ll go down to the seashore, I’ll jump right in and drown
She took him by the right hand, out to yonder shore
I need your help dear wifey, you’ll have to shove me o’er
Dim-dum-di-de-rae, carry me away
She backed and took a run to push her old man in
He stepped to the one side and she went headlong in
She began to scream and she began to squall
I’m sorry my dear wifey, I cannot see at all
Dim-dum-di-de-rae, dim-dum-di-de-rae, dim-dum-di-de-rae, dim-dum-di-de-rae
3. Nothing – Cannon ASCAP
Do you remember when there was nothing?
Not one breath or lighted ray
No sound was heard and we were virgins
Just before the day
Then you took an urgent breath.
We sensed the dawn, a murky haze
I sang one note, the touch was awakening
Mother of all days
Not content for one small sip
Day brings out the blinding light,
A deafening roar, the rape, then nothing
That was the night, that was the night
Before the start we came from nothing
And nothing brought the first sweet breath,
Music’s kind touch, it had no structure
That was day’s caress, that was day’s caress
4. Tammy’s Sister (Istock BMI)
Make your plan, her time is decided
So bad there for Annie took your mind in
She touched your mind, Annie set your soul free
Maybe she came from another time and place
Maybe she lied to get into this space, and I said
Maybe there’s nothin’ here to keep her satisfied
Maybe she came from another time and place
And she walked the walk with a tear on her face
Lied her way in to get what she wanted
Maybe she don’t find nothing amusing here
Make new plans, her life is decided
So bad there for Annie took your mind in
She touched your mind, Annie set your soul free
Maybe she came from another time and place
Maybe she lied to get into this chase, and I said
Maybe there’s nothin’ here to keep her satisfied
There’s all a sadness you don’t know
There’s always a light in the forest to find me
5. Off the Map (Cannon/Istock ASCAP)
He was a simple desert cowboy, chasin’ the wild coyote
Jealousy was afire that would not let ‘im go
He's goin’ down, down, down, down, ridin' off the map
Said now you could have walked it off, reasoned with yourself
Shadow of two lovers that the candlelight reflects
Leather boots and camisole–the sapphire of desire
Down–you can hear the devil’s choir
Now his deeds a burning cross, and it’s branded on his cheek
The moon is bleeding amber, now on everything he sees
He’s goin’ down, down, down, down, ridin’ off the map
Down, down, down, down, somewhere off of this map
So where you goin’ my friend, where you runnin' to?
Somewhere off this map, your deeds will follow you
Sing your jagged melody, every note is deep
Just fix your gaze and point your horse, you got no time now to sleep
Down, down, down down, somewhere off of this map
Down, down, down, down, ridin' off the map
Down, down, down, down, somewhere off the map
6. White Pressing Down (Cannon/Istock ASCAP)
Winter knows patience
It breaks while you wait
Raymond won’t die
He walks in my sleep
He’s there at the siding
The window is frosted
I’ll be drivin’ all day
Drivin’ all day
chorus
Am I somebody’s hero?
The cold burrows deep
White pressing down
To Jesse’s retreat
Winter knows vengeance
The lights dim again
You can’t say nothin’
You can’t make amends
Wyoming lies waiting
As Jesse looks west
And far under ground
They ravage the rest
Chorus
7. Western City Nights (Istock BMI)
No finer days you don’t find now
This city’s so been on mind
You look so amazing tonight
You sit up there colored like a rainbow
Did I hear the sirens longing?
Did I fall in your crazy wounded nights?
No finer days you don’t find now
This city’s sort of been on my mind and
You look so amazing tonight
Repeat
8. Get on the Bus (Istock BMI)
There are more here than the two of us
You gotta’ get on or get off of that bus
There’s a thousand reasons not to cry, but you can’t remember
There’s a woman who caught your eye
There’s a woman who bought you time
But the woman who stole your heart, is the one you can’t forget
chorus
I see the sunshine blazin’ it’s own sweet way
And I watch the young girls on their horses
They would love to ride them all day
There are black birds singin’ in the trees
I left my old guitar lyin’ on the bed
There’s a phone call I should’ve made but I can’t remember
It’s no time to change your mind, it’s no time to walk away
When you got winter in your heart you just can’t forget
Chorus
So go ahead and close the door
You’ve got your reasons and I’ve got mine
There’s a thousand things to prove but you can’t remember
And there’s more here than the two of us
You’ve got to get on or get off that bus
And there days that will pass you by and you won’t forget
Chorus
9. Sand Storm (Cannon ASCAP)
Horses squall and kick while bucking
Wild eyes dart in the joyous suffering
Race the wind and ride for nowhere
Scarf wrapped tight for some air
Muted sun, we are all dull witted
Gallop on for the air
Sand and wind
Swallow the world,
Sand and wind
We’re hurled and whirled
Sand and wind
Blow to hell’s gate
Sand and wind
It’s You
Dance with death just before the dawning
Close your eyes stepping into storm
Sun obscured, there’s no time, nor compass
Fine white sand ground to bone
Storming world you have won the battle
Gallop on, there’s no home
Sand and Wind
Swallow the world
Sand and Wind
----
Sand and Wind
Blow to hell’s gate
Sand and Wind
Just Blow
10. Left Texas (words, traditional; music and arrangement Cannon/Istock ASCAP).
This song comes from a long and rambling ballad sung for John Lomax by one of Hal’s favorite old-time cowboy singers, Dick Devall from Oklahoma. Hal reworked some of the best words and then he and Greg made up a new melody. Eli helped make this song spooky as it takes us back to an 1881 trail drive in some kind of musical time machine.
I left old Texas way back in eighty-one
Four thousand longhorns, as wild as ever run
Al Blocker was our trail boss, and you bet he was a good one
He said to me, kiddo, I know you’re true blue
Got fifteen good cowhands and you bet they’re all two bars
Just point those old longhorns right towards that North Star
Just point those old longhorns right towards the North Star
Git on that right point and bring those steers through
He told that horse wrangler, just throw them horses in
A river to ford boys, so don’t be thin skinned
Deep river to cross, and we’re goin’ right in
I’m telling you, cowboys, you’ll take that bitter pill
It’s the hills of Wyoming, out by the ‘dobe walls
We’ll get back to Texas late in the fall
Back to old Texas, chuck wagons and all
And he looked over at me boys, and winked that big eye
11. Crippled Up Blues (Cannon ASCAP). In the singing version, the chorus asks, “What’s use for shoes/ when you’ve lost your moves./I’ve got those danged old crippled-up blues.”
2. Carry Me Away (2:26)
3. Nothing (2:39)
4. Tammy’s Sister (4:03)
5. Off the Map (3:33)
6. White Pressing Down (3:34)
7. Western City Nights (3:59)
8. Get on the Bus (3:38)
9. Sand Storm (6:26)
10. Left Texas (3:54)
11. Crippled-up Blues (2:18)
Genre: American Desert Music
Greg Istock – acoustic bass, foot percussion, vocals
Hal Cannon – guitars, banjos, vocals
Eli Wrankle - violin
2015 ©3hattrio–all rights reserved
3hattrio
3hattrio plays what we call American Desert Music. Our aim is to create a new genre which responds to the natural world of our sacred homeland near Zion National Park in Utah. We also strive to acknowledge the cultural traditions of the generations who have worked and lived on the deserts of the American southwest. The subject matter of our songs is often desert oriented, sometimes not. Mostly, we express a daily-ness of watching light play off distant mesas and hearing sound reverberate from sheer sandstone cliffs. We don’t over-think it. We just play music.
We live in a place marked by a great and lasting indigenous imprint. We don’t attempt to perform the music of the nomadic Native peoples who have lived here for centuries. We are modern-day settlers. From our vantage we are not all that different than other pioneers who came from diverse places to create community. We draw on our various musical backgrounds and our shared need to find sociability in an isolated place. We strive to create something that is truly American but also new.
Greg Istock recorded and produced this CD. He sings, plays acoustic bass and wrote many of the songs. His musical background comes from African traditions developed in the Caribbean and South. He is also a visual artist and lives on the edge of the Virgin River in southern Utah
Hal Cannon sings, plays banjos and guitars and also wrote many of the songs. He is a folklorist and scholar of cowboy and Western folk music and poetry and has played old-time, old-West music for years. He also produces radio documentaries for Radio National in Australia. He lives in a pecan orchard in Virgin, Utah
Eli Wrankle plays violin and grew up in a family of artists in Toquerville, Utah. He recently graduated from high school where he served as concert master of the Hurricane High School Orchestra. He plans to continue playing and studying music at Southern Utah University. He may be the oldest soul in the group.
Thanks to our families for their support – Val, Russell, Lori, Ella, Brynn and Teresa. Thanks to our friends in Zion Canyon for supporting us. Gratitude goes to the Ucross Foundation, Ucross, Wyoming, where Hal and Greg wrote several of the songs during a composers’ residency in November, 2014.
Credits: final mix by Michael Greene, mastered by James S. Anderson at the Bit Farm, photographs by Alex Santiago, album design by Sandy Bell, cover collage by Greg Istock, manufactured at One Stop CD Shop LLC.
Lyrics
1. Get Back Home (words–Istock; music–Cannon/Istock ASCAP)
It’s a long way to Minor Station
Twenty-five people lost without a trace
I know Jack saw the wind change, when he left
He said I’ve walked this river for all of my days
Chorus
We all wait wishing for light, now there’s only more rain
This ragin’ river won’t let us in down there to try to save anything
It’s a long night waiting
(How you gonna’ get back home)
So many people tried in vain
(How you gonna’ get back home)
It’s a long time waiting for them
(How you gonna’ get back home)
So many people tried to warn Jack
(How you gonna’ get back home)
Chorus
Wishin’ for life
Ragin’ river won’t let us in
2. Carry Me Away (words and music–traditional; arrangement–Cannon/Istock ASCAP). This song is an old British ballad about murder, deceit, attempted suicide and revenge. Our version is loosely based on a recording made by John Lomax of some young girls in the Gant family from Austin, Texas, especially intriguing for its mention of same-sex attraction in the first verse. Usually this song contains a detail about sucking marrow out of bones to make the old man blind. We chose to leave that out and cut to the chase.
There was an old woman, in London she did dwell
She loved her old man dearly but another man’s wife as well
She went to the drug store to see what she could find
Something from the doctor to make her old man blind
Dim-dum-di-de-rae, carry me away
The light is growing dimmer, I cannot see the ground
I’ll go down to the seashore, I’ll jump right in and drown
She took him by the right hand, out to yonder shore
I need your help dear wifey, you’ll have to shove me o’er
Dim-dum-di-de-rae, carry me away
She backed and took a run to push her old man in
He stepped to the one side and she went headlong in
She began to scream and she began to squall
I’m sorry my dear wifey, I cannot see at all
Dim-dum-di-de-rae, dim-dum-di-de-rae, dim-dum-di-de-rae, dim-dum-di-de-rae
3. Nothing – Cannon ASCAP
Do you remember when there was nothing?
Not one breath or lighted ray
No sound was heard and we were virgins
Just before the day
Then you took an urgent breath.
We sensed the dawn, a murky haze
I sang one note, the touch was awakening
Mother of all days
Not content for one small sip
Day brings out the blinding light,
A deafening roar, the rape, then nothing
That was the night, that was the night
Before the start we came from nothing
And nothing brought the first sweet breath,
Music’s kind touch, it had no structure
That was day’s caress, that was day’s caress
4. Tammy’s Sister (Istock BMI)
Make your plan, her time is decided
So bad there for Annie took your mind in
She touched your mind, Annie set your soul free
Maybe she came from another time and place
Maybe she lied to get into this space, and I said
Maybe there’s nothin’ here to keep her satisfied
Maybe she came from another time and place
And she walked the walk with a tear on her face
Lied her way in to get what she wanted
Maybe she don’t find nothing amusing here
Make new plans, her life is decided
So bad there for Annie took your mind in
She touched your mind, Annie set your soul free
Maybe she came from another time and place
Maybe she lied to get into this chase, and I said
Maybe there’s nothin’ here to keep her satisfied
There’s all a sadness you don’t know
There’s always a light in the forest to find me
5. Off the Map (Cannon/Istock ASCAP)
He was a simple desert cowboy, chasin’ the wild coyote
Jealousy was afire that would not let ‘im go
He's goin’ down, down, down, down, ridin' off the map
Said now you could have walked it off, reasoned with yourself
Shadow of two lovers that the candlelight reflects
Leather boots and camisole–the sapphire of desire
Down–you can hear the devil’s choir
Now his deeds a burning cross, and it’s branded on his cheek
The moon is bleeding amber, now on everything he sees
He’s goin’ down, down, down, down, ridin’ off the map
Down, down, down, down, somewhere off of this map
So where you goin’ my friend, where you runnin' to?
Somewhere off this map, your deeds will follow you
Sing your jagged melody, every note is deep
Just fix your gaze and point your horse, you got no time now to sleep
Down, down, down down, somewhere off of this map
Down, down, down, down, ridin' off the map
Down, down, down, down, somewhere off the map
6. White Pressing Down (Cannon/Istock ASCAP)
Winter knows patience
It breaks while you wait
Raymond won’t die
He walks in my sleep
He’s there at the siding
The window is frosted
I’ll be drivin’ all day
Drivin’ all day
chorus
Am I somebody’s hero?
The cold burrows deep
White pressing down
To Jesse’s retreat
Winter knows vengeance
The lights dim again
You can’t say nothin’
You can’t make amends
Wyoming lies waiting
As Jesse looks west
And far under ground
They ravage the rest
Chorus
7. Western City Nights (Istock BMI)
No finer days you don’t find now
This city’s so been on mind
You look so amazing tonight
You sit up there colored like a rainbow
Did I hear the sirens longing?
Did I fall in your crazy wounded nights?
No finer days you don’t find now
This city’s sort of been on my mind and
You look so amazing tonight
Repeat
8. Get on the Bus (Istock BMI)
There are more here than the two of us
You gotta’ get on or get off of that bus
There’s a thousand reasons not to cry, but you can’t remember
There’s a woman who caught your eye
There’s a woman who bought you time
But the woman who stole your heart, is the one you can’t forget
chorus
I see the sunshine blazin’ it’s own sweet way
And I watch the young girls on their horses
They would love to ride them all day
There are black birds singin’ in the trees
I left my old guitar lyin’ on the bed
There’s a phone call I should’ve made but I can’t remember
It’s no time to change your mind, it’s no time to walk away
When you got winter in your heart you just can’t forget
Chorus
So go ahead and close the door
You’ve got your reasons and I’ve got mine
There’s a thousand things to prove but you can’t remember
And there’s more here than the two of us
You’ve got to get on or get off that bus
And there days that will pass you by and you won’t forget
Chorus
9. Sand Storm (Cannon ASCAP)
Horses squall and kick while bucking
Wild eyes dart in the joyous suffering
Race the wind and ride for nowhere
Scarf wrapped tight for some air
Muted sun, we are all dull witted
Gallop on for the air
Sand and wind
Swallow the world,
Sand and wind
We’re hurled and whirled
Sand and wind
Blow to hell’s gate
Sand and wind
It’s You
Dance with death just before the dawning
Close your eyes stepping into storm
Sun obscured, there’s no time, nor compass
Fine white sand ground to bone
Storming world you have won the battle
Gallop on, there’s no home
Sand and Wind
Swallow the world
Sand and Wind
----
Sand and Wind
Blow to hell’s gate
Sand and Wind
Just Blow
10. Left Texas (words, traditional; music and arrangement Cannon/Istock ASCAP).
This song comes from a long and rambling ballad sung for John Lomax by one of Hal’s favorite old-time cowboy singers, Dick Devall from Oklahoma. Hal reworked some of the best words and then he and Greg made up a new melody. Eli helped make this song spooky as it takes us back to an 1881 trail drive in some kind of musical time machine.
I left old Texas way back in eighty-one
Four thousand longhorns, as wild as ever run
Al Blocker was our trail boss, and you bet he was a good one
He said to me, kiddo, I know you’re true blue
Got fifteen good cowhands and you bet they’re all two bars
Just point those old longhorns right towards that North Star
Just point those old longhorns right towards the North Star
Git on that right point and bring those steers through
He told that horse wrangler, just throw them horses in
A river to ford boys, so don’t be thin skinned
Deep river to cross, and we’re goin’ right in
I’m telling you, cowboys, you’ll take that bitter pill
It’s the hills of Wyoming, out by the ‘dobe walls
We’ll get back to Texas late in the fall
Back to old Texas, chuck wagons and all
And he looked over at me boys, and winked that big eye
11. Crippled Up Blues (Cannon ASCAP). In the singing version, the chorus asks, “What’s use for shoes/ when you’ve lost your moves./I’ve got those danged old crippled-up blues.”