Artist: Hilary Gardner
Title: On the Trail with The Lonesome Pines
Year Of Release: 2024
Label: Anzic Records, LLC
Genre: Vocal Jazz
Quality:  FLAC (tracks)
Total Time: 47:04
Total Size:  218  MB


Tracklist:

1. Along the Navajo Trail (3:53)
2. Cow Cow Boogie (3:21)
3. Call of the Canyon (4:09)
4. Under Fiesta Stars (3:55)
5. Silver on the Sage (3:30)
6. Jingle Jangle Jingle (I Got Spurs) (3:28)
7. A Cowboy Serenade (While I'm Smokin' My Last Cigarette) (5:43)
8. Song of the Sierras (3:40)
9. Along the Santa Fe Trail (3:42)
10. Lights of Old Santa Fe (4:14)
11. I'm an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande) (3:28)
12. Twilight on the Trail (4:09)

In the early weeks and months of the pandemic, confined to my Brooklyn apartment in the silenced city, I dreamed of wide-open spaces and the freedom to roam. I started researching “trail songs” from the singing cowboy era of the 1930s-40s, drawn to the images in the lyrics: silver stars, purple hills, slumbering shadows, and the lights of Old Santa Fe glinting in the distance. What heaven, to saddle up a reliable horse and wander, unworried and unhurried, under a vast western sky!

As I delved deeper, I learned that many trail songs were written not only by singing cowboys, but by jazz and film composers and lyricists like Johnny Mercer, Benny Carter, Frank Loesser, and others. A song making its debut in a Western film starring Roy Rogers or Gene Autry would often go on to be recorded by a swinging big band or the original hip cowboy, Bing Crosby—the lines between genres were, happily, blurrier back then.

The songs on this album evoke all the romantic mythology of the American West and remind us that the answers to many of life’s big questions can be found in contemplative solitude, the beauty of the natural world, and the arms of a loved one. Thank you for listening.
Happy trails,
Hilary

Hilary Gardner, Vocals
Justin Poindexter, Guitars, Mandolin, Organ, Vocals
Noah Garabedian, Bass
Aaron Thurston, Drums, Percussion
Sasha Papernik, Accordion (4, 5)