Townes Van Zandt Live at eTown (December 6, 1992)

My co-writer Kurt and I had been following the case, and when the civil case verdict came down letting the cops off the hook the song wrote itself in twenty minutes. Nothing's going to bring Alex Nieto back, but a line has to be drawn. He was killed because techies moved into his neighborhood and saw longtime residents as a threat.  And the cops thought his Forty Niner jersey was some kind of gang sign. Don't they train these people?

Alex Nieto - Chuck Prophet

Written by Zkeletonz
Produced and mixed by Zkeletonz
Mixed at www.secretsundazestudios.net
Visuals by Zaina Hizami

Watch videos from Zkeletonz: www.youtube.com/channel/UCYAKAF2cxfg58wezJrFMHsw

Website: www.zkeleto.nz
Instagram: www.instagram.com/zkeletonz/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/zkeletonz 
Soundcloud: @zkeletonz 
On Tour: www.songkick.com/artists/8675549-zkeletonz 
Mailing list: bit.ly/2ixunOR

#postpop 💀💀💀

Always [OUT NOW]

For their third studio recording Other Desert Cities, Bay Station sought inspiration in the Mojave Desert. The 10 songs on Other Desert Cities were written over several week-long writing retreats in Joshua Tree, a desert town adjacent to its namesake National Park. Bay Station co-founders Deborah Crooks and Kwame Copeland use their experiences and impressions of desert life as a springboard for ten new songs that reflect the stark and natural beauty of the desert environment, and detail some of the strange, poetic, and distinctly American stories of its desert denizens, both animal and human.

As they did on their previous two releases, Your Own Reaction (2014 under their former name, KCDC) and Go Out and Make Some (2016 as Bay Station), Deborah Crooks (vocals, principal lyricist) and Kwame Copeland (guitar, dobro, vocals, harmonica) co-produced Other Desert Cities with Mike Stevens. Stevens also played drums, mixed the record, and recorded three of the tracks at his Lost Monkey studio in Hayward, CA. Along with Ben Bernstein (bass) and Steve Waters (guitar, backing vocals), they recorded most of the album at Gatos Trail studio in the Mojave, among the Joshua trees and creosote, with engineer Dan Joeright. Ben Bernstein also recorded and engineered “Fire Song” and “Trickster Moon” at Petting Zoo Studio in Oakland, CA. Upon joining the band in late 2017, bass player Chris Veenstra contributed to several songs on the record, as did guest musicians Michael McNevin (electric and slide guitar), and Joan Reuter (fiddle). The album was mastered by Ken Lee (JJ Grey & Mofro, Bill Frisell) in Oakland. 
Much of the album’s ten tracks depict imagined lives of desert dwellers; from wild coyotes and survivors of a building fire to road-tripping visitors.  “Sleeping Hard Waking Slow” explores aspects of unconditional and timeless love against a desert backdrop, sung from an unconventional point of view. “Look but Don’t Touch” is a straight-ahead rock song depicting the life of a stripper working at an adult entertainment store, while “Sands of Time” doubles down on a recurring theme of timelessness over a dance-worthy, samba-inspired beat. Crooks assumes the narrative voice, in turns affectionate ("Sands of Time”) inclusive and communal (“Everybody’s Business”) and mournful. “You didn’t want salty, you didn’t want sweet, you wanted the edge of that collision," she sings on “Trickster Moon”, at once appreciating a friend’s penchant for extreme experiences and comprehending, in retrospect, how those desires play out in a life cut short. “Bay Station Wiggle” displays the band’s penchant for cutting loose, skirting the edges of surf music in a guitar-driven romp evocative of Chuck Berry.

Other Desert Cities

Sleeping Hard Waking Slow

I wrote this last summer at a songwriting retreat in Idaho that was full of birds and birdsong. To celebrate my birthday, I recorded it with some of my favorite musicians. Be your own bird! www.deborahcrooks.com
Recorded by Ben Bernstein at Petting Zoo Studio, Oakland, CA and Kwame Copeland at Studio Valencia, San Francisco, CA
Mixed and mastered by Ben Bernstein at Petting Zoo Studio, Oakland, CA

Deborah Crooks: vocals, whistles, wood frog, woodpecker rattle
Kwame Copeland: acoustic guitars, whistles
Ben Bernstein: upright bass, whistles, peeps
Peter Whitehead: Asian fiddle, corruga horn, catbird whistle, bells

Lyrics: 
Song sparrow sings its own song
No other place it belongs
Like the towhee peeps in the leaves
In your own life you must believe
And be your own bird

Hummingbird nest in the tree
Spun thread a tiny blue egg
Wings a blur in the air
We all have our own truth to declare
Be your own bird

Nature can beautiful nature can be cruel
Some days you win, some days you play the fool
Mockingbird attacking its own reflectio

Across the meadow I see some geese
Dabbling in the green green grass
No one’s first and no one's last
Everyone has their own path
Be your own bird

Nature can beautiful nature can be cruel
Some days you lose some days you completely rule
Eagle perched atop the highest mountain

Be your own bird
Be your own bird
Be your own bird

©Deborah Crooks (ASCAP)

Be Your Own Bird

Deborah Crooks – co-founder of Bay Station, talks about the band’s third studio recording "Other Desert Cities," which was inspired by the stark, natural beauty of the Mojave Desert. The 10 songs on "Other Desert Cities" were written by Deborah and Kwame Copeland during several week-long writing retreats in Joshua Tree. Their experiences and impressions of the desert town adjacent to its namesake National Park inform the recording, which details the strange, poetic, and distinctly American stories of desert denizens, both animal and human. More: http://nationalparktraveling.com/listing/bay-station-band-other-desert-cities/ 
Thanks to the National Parks Arts Foundation for sponsoring this episode! www,NationalParksArtsFoundation.org

Other Desert Cities - Bay Station Band on Big Blend Radio

Chrismas song transformation. 
rollerblades+keys+pingquire Ana Berkenhoff
piano+guitar Símon Birgisson

Heimsumbol

Bay Station finds California-based songwriter/musicians Kwame Copeland and Deborah Crooks combining their talents and enlisting the help of several musical compadres to create a diverse form of Americana and rock music. In 2014 under their former name KCDC they released Your Own Reaction; a 10-song collection of Americana and rock drawing on their literary chops and post-punk and twang tendencies. Their follow-up recording, Go Out and Make Some is a true melting pot of Americana, blues, jazz and rock and roll, with songs about love, lust, sandy beaches, dusty roads, wandering holy men, wolf birds and more.  In Spring 2018, they'll release another diverse 10-song collection, Other Desert Cities.

Sleeping Hard Waking Slow

Bay Station Band

Recent comments

Logan Bahler

SURfACE

SURfACE

DON'T BORE US. GET TO THE CHORUS

Related tracks