Album / Title
Caragana Wind
By: Gary Fjellgaard
Origin: Rose Valley, Saskatchewan - Prince George - Gabriola Island, British Columbia, 🇨🇦
Insight
Listen to Caragana Wind and it will sweep you away across the Great Divide and Rocky Mountains, to the edge of the continent. From the Prairies to the Gulf Islands, down the Baja, the journey covers territory and time, stirring up memories and stories, enlivened with a breath of fresh air and fully realized in visionary songs. Gary Fjellgaard's 12th album is his best work, signposts from 35 years on the road, playing for people and listening too, carefully observing lives and the landscape. "I knew Caragana Wind" was a good song and it was confirmed by audiences. I searched for others in a drawer-full of unfinished material and wrote new songs that were more than just radio fodder," he recalls. "I wanted an acoustic sound with the vocals up front, to resist the over sweetening that musicians add as protection from the scary reality of their own voices," says Fjellgaard, who would require quintuple heart surgery during the project. "I came back to the rough mix with a second wind and fresh ears," he reports, "and took my own advice about keeping a sense of humour, including in my songs and on-stage." Caragana was grown as a windbreak and the song was written after a "good old visit" with the family homestead, in Rose Valley, Saskatchewan. It’s derelict now, empty for 50 years, "barn-board grey," like the couple in the title track and obscured by plants, abandoned by humans. This is Fjellgaard’s most diverse and ambitious work, deceptively simple, with background vocalists Linda Kidder and Peter Padden, who have sung with him for decades and hand-picked musicians, all recorded in the Gerry Paquette’s basement studio in Nanaimo. There is a completeness in the new CD that comes with time well spent. Starting with a tribute to a horse "Sweet Nellie," it continues on an autobiographical emigration aboard a "Steel Horse Lullaby." There are side excursions: the hilarious misadventures of a gringo on a "Malecon," a couple lost in song under a "Mexican Moon," and the madcap politics of "By the Sea." Also included are poignant longings for "Barefoot Days," a tribute to the "Raw Courage" of those who fought and lost in raging BC forest fires, and the crowd-pleasing memory of "Pop Campbell's Barn." The familiar Fjellgaard theme of vanishing values includes Vaqueros in "If the Cowboy Goes Away," becoming comical in "Lonely Desperado," a cowboy waltz "Whisper of Love" and a final message, "The Long Haul." "I'm fortunate to be able to use my imagination to create songs people pay to hear, enough to make a living at least," he says. "For me, it's always been about the music and the love of it."
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Fjellgaard, Gary - Caragana Wind
Fjellgaard, Gary - Caragana Wind
Fjellgaard, Gary - Caragana Wind
Fjellgaard, Gary - Caragana Wind
Fjellgaard, Gary - Caragana Wind
Caragana Wind
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Credits
Musicians
Gary Fjellgaard: lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Linda Kidder: background vocals on all tracks except ‘Raw Courage’, duet vocals with Gary Fjellgaard on ‘Malecon’
Peter Padden: background vocals on all tracks except ‘Raw Courage’
Ken Lister: stand up bass
Buff Allen: percussion
Nolan Murray: fiddle on ‘Lonely Desperado’, mandolin on ‘Sweet Nellie’, ‘Raw Courage’, ‘Lonely Desperado’ and ‘The Long Haul’
Nathan Tinkham: lap steel on ‘Barefoot Days’ and ‘If The Cowboy Goes Away’, dobro on ‘By The Sea’ and ‘The Long Haul’
Trish Ciara-Peck: classical violin on ‘Steel Horse Lullaby’, ‘Malecon’ and ‘Pop Campbell’s Barn’
Songwriting
‘Sweet Nellie’ written by Gary Fjellgaard
‘Steel Horse Lullaby’ written by Gary Fjellgaard
‘Caragana Wind’ written by Gary Fjellgaard
‘Malecon’ written by Gary Fjellgaard
‘Mexican Moon’ written by Gary Fjellgaard
‘By The Sea’ written by Gary Fjellgaard
‘Barefoot Days’ written by Gary Fjellgaard
‘Raw Courage’ written by Gary Fjellgaard, based on a poem by Mike Puhallo
‘Pop Campbell’s Barn’ written by Gary Fjellgaard
‘If The Cowboy Goes Away’ written by Gary Fjellgaard
‘Lonely Desperado’ written by Gary Fjellgaard
‘Whisper Of Love’ written by Gary Fjellgaard
‘The Long Haul’ written by Gary Fjellgaard
Production
Produced by Gary Fjellgaard
Technical
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Jerry Paquette at Raincoast Studio, Nanaimo, British Columbia
Artwork
Design by Dasch
Portrait photography by Heydemann Art of Photography
Additional photography by David Anderson
Release
Released 2005 by Slim Creek Records
Catalogue number SCR-12
Published by Slim Creek Music
© 2005 Slim Creek Music
Made in Canada
Rights society: SOCAN
Barcode: 6 21365 08132 1
Matrix numbers
Matrix: 2007247 SPIN DIGITAL MEDIA CORP.
Mastering SID code: IFPI LK79
Mould SID code: IFPI H901
Liner notes
‘Sweet Nellie’ (Mom said we didn’t have a horse named Nellie but her Grandma did and that justifies the song)
‘Steel Horse Lullaby’ (Round a bend through the Rockies I can still see that steel horse smokin. Looking back, the prairies disappeared)
‘Caragana Wind’ (The house still stands like a ghost framed by the prairie sky, roof caving in, windows broken, caragana’s growing wild in the wind)
‘Malecon’ (Too much Baja sun, a gray haired gringo takes an evening stroll on the waterfront, downtown La Paz. Mmmm, could be trouble. Stupid gringo)
‘Mexican Moon’ (The song is a lie, my sweetheart and I have never been riding in the Mexican moonlight unless you count the reins of a truck pulling a fifth wheel. We shouldn’t be on those Baja roads after dark anyway)
‘By The Sea’ (The political position of most folks on some of the smaller west coast islands are carefully examined in this song. Should have LEFT this one off the CD)
‘Barefoot Days’ (Reunions in small prairie towns inspire a nostalgic look into the innocent days. Innocent? Could be “stretchin it a bit”)
‘Raw Courage’ (A poem by cowboy poet Mike Puhallo struck a chord with me as the fires were raging through the North Thompson the summer of 2003. “Half moon hangs blood red” or “Standing in the ashes saying, we can build again” I couldn’t leave that alone)
‘Pop Campbell’s Barn’ (Horse and toboggan to school. Leave him munchin slough grass in the livery stable. What a magical place. They even had town council meetings in an empty stall where they made major decisions,I guess.
‘If The Cowboy Goes Away’ (Admire the workin cowboy, his lifestyle and that undaunted spirit we all wish we had. Who will take care of those wild, lonely places if the cowboy goes away)
‘Lonely Desperado’ (Crossing the Baja border for the first time was a gringo experience for a songwriter. I became Juan,the lonely desperado riding a wild eyed stallion through the hills of Mexico searching for her secrets)
‘Whisper of Love’ (It’s a waltz, you don’t have to hang on every word. Just dance. Well, there could be a couple of questions after so best to listen a bit)
‘The Long Haul’ (Life leaves a lot of scars that never quite disappear. That sounds a bit preachy I know but we’ve all got them. Hang in there for the long haul folks and keep that cowboy spirit)
Lyrics for these songs (and others), as well as other Gary Fjellgaard albums are available at:
www.fjellgaard.bc.ca
I know that most folks who buy CD’s at my concerts don’t expect more than voice and guitar because I perform solo and that’s what they hear. There must be a reason acoustic performers like me add sweetening to their recordings. I would suggest it gives us some protection from the scary reality of our own voice.
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