Hilary Gardner - On the Trail with The Lonesome Pines (2024) [Official Digital Download]

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,” drawn to their lyrics about pale dawns, slumbering shadows, and other evocative imagery. What heaven, to saddle up a reliable horse and wander, unworried and unhurried, under a vast Western sky!

As I delved deeper into the world of trail music, I was struck by how many 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. I was fascinated to discover that many of these songs were debuted in Western films starring Roy Rogers or Gene Autry, only to be recorded later by a swinging big band or the original hip cowboy, Bing Crosby; the lines between genres were, happily, blurrier back then.

Because I grew up singing jazz and country music concurrently (my first gigs as a teenager in rural Alaska were singing Patsy Cline tunes in dive bars), I felt deeply and immediately at home in this new repertoire. In August 2021, eager to bring these songs to life with fellow musicians, I called my friend, bassist Noah Garabedian, who suggested we meet up with guitarist and vocalist Justin Poindexter for a jam session. As anyone who plays music knows, musical chemistry can’t be forced; it’s either there or it ain’t, and we all felt the magic in those early rehearsals. Shortly thereafter, we knew we’d struck gold when we added drummer Aaron Thurston to the mix.

TRACKLIST

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



Thanks to the Original customer.