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| photo by Regina Pagles |
Afterward family friends, veteran musicians Greg Istock and Hal Cannon asked Eli if he wanted to jam. A classical trained violinist, he had never played music that way before, but agreed.
When they finished jamming, he asked for more. 3hattrio was born purely out of friendship, localness, and musical chemistry.
Their sound reflects the landscape they live in and the musical influences they are passionate about. From that came a first album, Year One that they described in literary terms as Magic Realism.
Reviewers gone lyrical:
- "An ethereal magic that puts them in a field of one." ~Julian Piper (Acoustic Magazine).
- "Desert chamber music." ~ Paul Kerr (Maverick Magazine).
- The famous cowboy poet, Baxter Black, likens 3hattrio's music to a "profound Gregorian sagebrush chant."
Whatever the label, one thing is certain: 3hattrio has tapped into the (musical) soul of the American desert, rendering it with a completely original, often mind bending musical approach.
If you ask most people what Western music is you are likely to hear the response, cowboys and Indians. 3hattrio has great respect for these genres but they also think there is more to the West and its music. Musicians like to identify with things larger than themselves.
Music is often identified with place, like the Delta and its blues or mountain music of Appalachia. It can even be a city's music like New Orleans, Austin or Bakersfield. In the case of the 3hattrio inspiration comes from the deserts of southern Utah, thus, American Desert Music.
The 3hattrio plays American Desert Music and they aim to create a new music which responds to the natural world of their sacred homeland near Zion National Park in Utah. Their songs are mostly original and even their old-time cowboy and pioneer songs have an unusual twist. The subject matter of the songs is often desert oriented, sometimes not. Mostly, they express the desert experientially from a daily-ness of watching light off distant mesas and hearing the way sound plays off sheer sandstone cliffs. Then they play music. They dont over-think it. Living in the same isolated place, surrounded by an inspiring landscape of red cliffs is what makes this group thrive.
The 3hattrio members live in a place that has a great and lasting indigenous imprint. They strive to acknowledge the cultural traditions of generations of people who have worked and lived on the deserts of the American southwest. They dont attempt to perform the music of the nomadic Native peoples who have lived here for centuries.
They are modern day settlers in a place where settlement is not all that old.
Folklorist and musician Hal Cannon says: "From our vantage we are not all that different from other pioneers who came from diverse places to make community. From our varied musical backgrounds something truly American can be made out of the necessity to find sociability in an isolated place and to come with the intention to create something new."
The 3hattrio members live in a place that has a great and lasting indigenous imprint. They strive to acknowledge the cultural traditions of generations of people who have worked and lived on the deserts of the American southwest. They dont attempt to perform the music of the nomadic Native peoples who have lived here for centuries.
They are modern day settlers in a place where settlement is not all that old.
Folklorist and musician Hal Cannon says: "From our vantage we are not all that different from other pioneers who came from diverse places to make community. From our varied musical backgrounds something truly American can be made out of the necessity to find sociability in an isolated place and to come with the intention to create something new."
Hal Cannon: voice, banjo, guitar. He's also a poet & cowboy music scholar.
Greg Istock: voice, acoustic bass, foot percussion. He has a Caribbean music background and sings in a haunting and soulful style. Istock is a visual artist to boot.
Eli Wrankle, a classically trained violinist, started college this year at Southern Utah University and comes from a family of artists.
Greg Istock: voice, acoustic bass, foot percussion. He has a Caribbean music background and sings in a haunting and soulful style. Istock is a visual artist to boot.
Eli Wrankle, a classically trained violinist, started college this year at Southern Utah University and comes from a family of artists.
Since producing their first album, Year One, they released a second CD to critical acclaim, Dark Desert Night, followed by Solitaire in September 2016.
Click on the hyperlinks for a recording journal plus CD details, lyrics and videos.
Click on the hyperlinks for a recording journal plus CD details, lyrics and videos.
Who: 3hattrio
When: Thursay, March 16th, 7pm (Doors at 6:30)
Where: Rainshadow Recording Studio
200 Battery Way, Bldg 315 (west side)
Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend
Tickets Available at Crossroads Music and Quimper Sound Underground in Port Townsend or online at http://3hattrio.brownpapertickets.com.
UPCOMING SHOWS
3/16/17 3hattrio
3/16/17 3hattrio
3/17/17 David Jacobs-Strain
4/08/18 Luke Winslow-King
4/22/17 Steve James
4/22/17 Steve James
9/23/17 John Fullbright
All shows at Rainshadow Recording unless otherwise noted. Tickets available at http://www.brownpapertickets.c om.
All shows at Rainshadow Recording unless otherwise noted. Tickets available at http://www.brownpapertickets.c om.
