Western song inspired by the "One Hundred Mules Walking The Los Angeles Aqueduct" in Fall 2013 from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the L.A. Aqueduct.

Elson: Vocals, Background Vocals, Guitar, Bass Guitar, Drums
Albert Alfaro: Harmonica
GD Walker: Pedal Steel Guitar

The Ballad Of The 100 Mules (New Version)

An original lullaby song I wrote for my baby niece, Zora. I wrote this tune while rocking her to sleep.

Little Zora, Sleep Tonight

I sampled my 7-month-old niece singing and humming and created a downtempo electronic track around her vocalizations. Interestingly, though I ran the audio through Melodyne to round-off her vocal pitches to the key of the song, it didn't change the audio very much from the original recording(!) For the most part, she maintained a constant key of Db Major.

Egga (featuring Zora)

A song about water, titled in the phonetic Californian pronunciation of the word. Inspired by the California drought of the 2010s and my visits to the Owens Valley (the creek running throughout the song flows into the Los Angeles Aqueduct, which eventually comes out of my faucet).

Elson Trinidad : Vocals, piano, fretless bass, keyboards, drum programming
Independence Creek, Independence, CA: Water

Wadur

A mostly-instrumental song written in December, 2012 in Independence, CA. Inspired by the wide open spaces of California's Owens Valley and the majestic, snow-capped Eastern Sierra. 

The title is named after the physiographic region the Owens Valley is located in, a large section of the western United States which contains alternating flat valleys and mountain ranges. I had never heard of this term before, so it kind of stuck with me, and I used it for the song title (The original working title was, "Dreams of Independence").

Most of the time, I write music, but this song came to me...the melody, tempo, rhythm and chord progression were all playing in my head for days during my exile from the big city; it was only up to me to transcribe it and record it so the outside world can hear it.

I performed all instruments (guitar, keyboards and drum programming) and the background vocal. I'm not usually a guitar player, but I spent months figuring out the guitar arrangement so I could record the song.

This song is part of the upcoming EP, "The Independence Sessions," a collection of songs written during my self-imposed exile in Independence, CA in winter 2012.