LINER NOTES
The Pecos River runs through the tiny west Texas town where I was born.
The sprawling plains of the Edwards Plateau stretch out for hundreds of miles in every direction.
Mine is a heritage of purple sage and prickly pear, jackrabbit and horned toad;
Of longhorn and diamond back—eagle, hawk, and sandhill crane.
This great southwestern land where I was born and raised, is indeed,
my American home on the range.

At twenty-two, yearning for higher ground, I moved up to Denver.
The Rocky Mountains were my playground for the next 16 years.
Over the years, I climbed to the top of Guadalupe Peak and
hiked in the Grand Canyon of Arizona.
I camped in the Big Bend and body surfed in the Gulf of Mexico.
I soaked in the ancient mineral waters of Ojo Caliente and of Mt. Princeton.
I thrilled at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Utah’s Arches National Monument.

I have swum in the waters of the Rio Grande and Lake Powell,
And basked in the southern California sun at Huntington Beach.
I have climbed the mysterious Sand Dunes of the San Luis Valley,
to ponder the Sangre de Cristo Mountains beyond.
I have wandered in silence among old ghosts at St. Elmo and Tin Cup in the Colorado Collegiate range.
I have watched the sunset from Methodist Mountain and the full moon rise from the suspension bridge over Royal Gorge.

I have walked below the surface of the earth at Carlsbad, Sonora, Longhorn and Natural Bridge Caverns.
I have slept in the mountains and the desert, flown over canyons, oceans and vast mountain ranges.
I have ridden horses on the west Texas prairie and on the high Colorado plateaus.
I have fished for yellow cat in Texas rivers and red-eared perch in Oklahoma streams.
In summary, I have lived my life in the American West,
And tried to capture some of these wonderful experiences in the songs on this CD.

ABOUT THE SONGS
Last night my wife Leslie asked me to write something explaining the stories behind the songs on this album. The great traditional ballad Home on the Range takes me back to the beginning of my life on the west Texas prairie, singing the songs of Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and Stephen Foster. They were my earliest musical influences. It took me 50 years to evolve the swing arrangement of this song I’ve come to know and love so well. Bob Nolan’s Tumbling Tumbleweeds is another familiar tune I’ve always been partial to. I decided to leave out the eloquent spoken introduction, in favor of a more timeless, bluesy, autobiographical approach. My pal Larry Rothwell loaned me his excellent lament Colorado River Sandhill Crane—a true story that he experienced growing up in West Texas. Larry says it was the first song he ever wrote! I’ve been singing it for decades and rate it right up there with the other two classics in this collection.

The first time I saw the Rocky Mountains was a turning point in my life. I was 21 and knew instantly that I wanted to live in the Rocky Mountain West (at least for awhile), and so I did for 16 years. With the southwestern plains in my heart and the mountains in my soul, I naturally grew up to be a songwriter. I write and sing folk music and all that implies. After 30+ years of writing, playing, singing, arranging, recording, and publishing original songs, I’ve managed to latch onto a style that encompasses the varied musical and lyrical influences I’ve discovered while tumbling along in the weeds of the American West. The rest may be history, yet it’s no less a mystery.

In 1976, a most important year—America’s bi-centennial and Colorado’s centennial—I officially put the brand on Front Room Music. At the time I didn’t know if it would last three years, let alone thirty. I’d made several trips to visit my friend and radio mentor Don King, whose own dreams regarding the American West are truly remarkable. Don lived up in Poncha Springs at the time, near Salida, Colorado. On one of our adventures, we drove a Volkswagen Beetle up 12,000-foot Methodist Mountain and silently watched the sunset. Don told me that Old Mose, the last great Colorado Grizzly bear had been slain on the mountain back in the 1930s. In that moment of majestic wilderness, it seemed profoundly sad to contemplate the extinction of such a terrible, yet magnificent creature. It felt similar to watching King Kong go down in the old classic movie. One snowy afternoon, while visiting the Denver Museum of Natural History, I sat staring at the bronze statue of a female Grizzly and her cub. Suddenly, my bear muse appeared. I buttoned up my Navy pea coat, picked up my trusty Martin guitar and quickly wrote Gone Are the Grizzlies in honor of Colorado’s Centennial and to commemorate the late great (native) Colorado Grizzly bear.

The following year, soul brother & media ace John Ryland and I embarked on a southwestern sojourn. The idea was born in Aspen, although we started from Denver—with stops at Royal Gorge, Sand Dunes National Monument, Mesa Verde, Arches Monument, Grand Canyon, and eventually, Lake Powell. That trip was in June and it was really hot in the desert. We survived an arduous hike down Bright Angel Trail on the South Rim of Grand Canyon, before driving around to the high North Rim. By the time we arrived at Lake Powell we were fried…or about to be. The temperature was up in triple digits when we happened to meet four lovely young ladies who worked at the local marina. After a blessed sundown, they took us out on the desert floor where we talked and sang for hours. One of those young ladies was Holly—and I won’t soon forget her golden hair, pretty smile, and well-tanned body. The song (another lament) came a little later. (You can read John's view of this trip in his memoir How I Got the Hip Disc Jockey Blues.)

Travelogue was one of the tunes I wrote while living with Colorado pal Scott Maiers, with whom I’ve shared many wonderful mountain adventures. We were almost annihilated by a Moffett Tunnel train once, while stuck on the tracks in a blizzard (but that’s another story). Scott and I love truckin’ up to Missouri Falls, Mt. Princeton, Sand Dunes, Phantom Canyon, Cripple Creek, St. Elmo (a ghost town), Telluride, and other amazing places in the Rockies. An unforgettable moment in my hall of memories has us standing on the high suspension bridge over Royal Gorge one evening when the red ball sun was setting over the canyon on one side of the bridge, while a big, buttermilk moon was rising just opposite! Words alone cannot describe it; music is required.

Central to this story is the fact that I met my wife, Leslie Capek Stricklan, while dining at the legendary Buckhorn Exchange in Denver around 1985. The Buckhorn is a historic museum, steak house, and saloon. After we’d been dating awhile, Leslie took me to stay at an old log cabin very near the Royal Gorge, to go horseback riding. The main cabin and its smaller companion were both constructed by pioneer Vic Miller. Miller’s tragic story is told—in his own words—in a book inside the cabin. Leslie’s former boss August Perez (retired president of Perez Architects, a New Orleans firm with a Denver office at the time), who is quite a colorful character himself, owns the cabin. Leslie and I spent a magical snowy night in Augie’s Cabin. I wrote the song following our visit. At my request, a band called Quicksilver recorded it, as a surprise gift for Augie. I lost my copy of their recording long ago. Finally, the song has come back around, in tribute to Vic Miller…and to Augie.

Since moving back to my native Texas, where we’ve settled in South Austin, we’ve made several pleasurable visits to New Mexico and Colorado to visit friends and family. On one trip we stayed at a mountain ranch with Leslie’s sister Wendy, and then in a very unique private lodge owned by my friend Katy Bee. We also traveled to Mesa Verde, Durango, and Telluride, and spent some relaxing time in the hot mineral springs at Ojo Caliente. The euphoria of finding myself in those mystical environs inspired the songs Mesa Verde Mama and Ojo Caliente. On another trip we vacationed in Santa Fe before heading on to Castle Rock and Denver. We enjoyed a leisurely drive from Taos, down through the Cimarron Valley where a buffalo herd was grazing. A day or two later I woke up and drank coffee under the awesome view of Mt. Evans and Pike’s Peak—both visible from my friend Scott Maiers’ mountain home. Buffalo Along the Cimarron came pouring out of me. Mighty good coffee!

One lovely September day in our Austin home, Leslie and I began thinking about a companion for Kokopeli. We invented Kokobilly from a sketch I had made. The next logical step was a story song. Leslie wrote the beautiful words while I came up with a melody, and Tale of Two united the long lost desert twins: “Coyote sang, Saguaro swayed, as the mystic brothers played…”

Last, and possibly grandest of all, Grand Canyon resulted from a marvelous three-day stay on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in October 2004. We were there with Leslie’s mom, Dorothy Capek, to celebrate her 75th birthday. It had been 27 years since my last trip. Luckily, I tagged along and really got to enjoy the canyon at a pleasing time of year. Our visit was among the best vacations we’ve experienced. Two weeks later—on a solo trip to Colorado—the melody and opening line of the song came to me as I crossed the Texas border into New Mexico. I was thinking of John Lennon for some reason and that opening line is a bit of a tribute to John. I finished the song that night in a New Mexico motel room and recorded it in the spring of 2005.

I’ve written many other songs about living and imagining in this spectacular American SouthWest landscape. However, these 12 songs seem to stand out and present their stories in a musical context that I think anyone can enjoy. So, relax and tune out the rest of the world for a few minutes, if you will, and travel with me… on a timeless journey through the great American West.

CREDITS
All songs were written by Jim Stricklan copyright 2005, except where noted otherwise.
Publisher: Front Room Music/BMI.

GUEST PERFORMERS
Jim Stricklan, Larry Rothwell, Maryann Price, Theresa Brunelle,
Leslie Stricklan, Ted Arbogast, Doug and Darlene Taylor,
Chuck Ditto, John Simons, Ernie Durawa, James Fenner,
George Coyne, Herb Steiner, Joey Colarusso, Alan Turley, Cara Cooke,
Gregg Lowery, JP Allin, Richard Bowden and Connie Gatlin.

HOME ON THE RANGE (traditional / arranged by Jim Stricklan):
Jim—lead vocal & Alvarez acoustic guitar; Maryann Price—scat vocal; Doug Taylor—bass; Ernie Durawa—drums; Chuck Ditto—piano.
Recorded at Parrot Tracks/Austin, TX with George Coyne.

TRAVELOGUE :
Jim—lead vocal & Martin D-35 acoustic guitar; John Simons—bass; James Fenner—congas/percussion; Chuck Ditto—piano.
Recorded at Lonestar/Austin, TX with Jim Watts and overdubs at Parrot Trax/Austin, TX with George Coyne.

HOLLY :
Jim—lead vocal & Martin D-35 acoustic guitar; Herb Steiner—steel guitar.
Recorded at Music Lane/Austin, TX with Ted Arbogast producing, Bill Munyon engineering.

GRAND CANYON :
Jim—lead vocal & Alvarez acoustic guitar; Doug Taylor—bass; Larry Rothwell—acoustic rhythm guitar; Chuck Ditto—accordion.
Recorded at Parrot Tracks/Austin, TX with George Coyne.

GONE ARE THE GRIZZLIES :
Jim—lead vocal & Martin D-35 acoustic guitar; Ted Arbogast—bass & electric guitar; Alan Turley—soprano sax; Theresa Brunelle—supporting vocal.
Recorded at Music Lane/Austin, TX with Ted Arbogast and Bill Munyon.

BUFFALO ALONG THE CIMARRON :
Jim—lead vocal, harmonica & Alvarez acoustic guitar; Leslie Capek Stricklan—supporting vocal.
Recorded at Front Room Music Studio/Austin, TX by Jim Stricklan.

COLORADO RIVER SANDHILL CRANE (writer--Larry Rothwell):
Jim—lead vocal; Larry Rothwell—acoustic guitar & supporting vocals; Richard Bowden—fiddle; Scott Martin—bass.
Recorded at Parrot Tracks/Austin, TX with George Coyne. Used by permission.

TALE OF TWO (writers--Jim & Leslie Stricklan):
Jim & Leslie Stricklan—lead vocals; Jim—Washburn acoustic guitar; Doug Taylor—bass; Joey Colarusso—flute.
Recorded at Flashpoint/Austin, TX with Eastside Flash.

OJO CALIENTE :
Jim—lead vocal & Washburn acoustic guitar; Doug Taylor—bass; Chuck Ditto—keyboards; Maryann Price, Leslie Stricklan, Darlene Taylor—supporting vocals.
Recorded at Flashpoint/Austin, TX with Eastside Flash.

AUGIE’S CABIN :
Jim—lead vocal & Alvarez acoustic guitar; Doug Taylor—bass; Gregg Lowry—clawhammer banjo; George Coyne—dobro; Cara Cooke-harmonica.
Recorded at Parrot Tracks with George Coyne.

MESA VERDE MAMA :
Jim—lead vocal & Martin D-35 acoustic guitar; JP Allin—harmonica.
Recorded at Lonestar/Austin, TX with Jim Watts.

TUMLING TUMBLEWEEDS (writer--Bob Nolan):
Jim—lead vocal & Alvarez acoustic guitar; Doug Taylor—upright bass & mandolin; Gregg Lowry—accordion; whistle – Connie Gatlin;
Recorded at Parrot Tracks/Austin, TX. Used by permission.

Audio Mastering:
Jerry Tubb at Terra Nova Digital Audio, Inc. Austin, Texas.

Graphic Design:
Design concept by Leslie Stricklan, who is an architect.
Design refinement and final production by Neely Ashmun, Scott Heron and Roberto Ssantellana of BAH! Design, Austin, Texas.


Photography: Leslie Stricklan, using Minolta Maxxum 3000i 45mm with Vivitar telephoto lens
Cover photo - Jim Stricklan at Yavapai Point, South Rim, Grand Canyon, overlooking the Inner Gorge intersection with Bright Angel Canyon mid-morning, October 12, 2004.
Back photo - Watchtower at Desert View, South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park, designed by Mary Jane Colter, the legendary architect of many structures at the park, who drew her inspiration from Native American art and became a significant contributor to the tradition of Southwest architectural design.
Inside cover - features Mimbres animal motifs taken from the Watchtower at Desert View, Grand Canyon National Park.
Tray card photo (by BAH!) - Navaho weaving depicting traditional sand painting figures. Stricklan collection.

Manufacturing: DiscMakers

THANKSTo all involved in creating this project, and also to my friend Don King, for inspiration.