COME MORNING

3hattrio releases a new album on 3/3/2025

Two albums, two aural adventures arrive in tandem

These two albums represent the yin and yang of my musical life. Cowboy Sutra, my solo album, is all about words, about history and myth. Singing trumps instrumentation. Conversely, Come Morning, 3hattrio’s new album, is all instrumental. It’s our collective response to the massive visual drama, the grand operatic space called Zion National Park. It’s a place where we’ve lived for what seems like forever and still find too mysterious to talk about. And yet, we keep trying. With this album, we decided to start at the beginning, dawn in the desert. Thus the title, Come Morning.

I was curious. Could we actually discover that actual sound, the crack of dawn? But then I learned the idiom dates back to the 19th century and is not a sound at all. It’s that exact moment when the night splits open a crack in the horizon and night yields to daylight. I still like the idea it could be a musical moment.

If you're a more-than-casual reader, you'll have noticed I’ve had a lot to say about every nuance of each song from Cowboy Sutra. I’ve asked you, the readers of Loose Cannon Boost, to bear with me. Amid all this palaver, there's been nary a word about Come Morning.

Here’s a sample from the record. You can judge for yourself.

A Listeners Guide

You can pre-order the CD or download it by CLICKING HERE. If you live in Europe, you can order the CD directly from Lucky Dice Music in the Netherlands by CLICKING HERE. And, on March 3 you can pull the music up on your favorite streaming service and listen for free.

We hope Come Morning will make a good accompaniment to your life. I had a drowsy start today and it sounded just right in the background. Last night we sampled the music as we prepared dinner. Both food and music tasted good.

My favorite time to listen to new music is a leisurely drive out in the country.

We went to Astoria, Oregon for the Fisher Poets Gathering this past weekend. It was a rainy day, a test of sorts, to see if Come Morning would require the dry of desert to be enjoyed. Though waterlogged, it sounded just fine.

Eli Wrankle, violin, Hal Cannon, banjo, Greg Istock, double bass

3hattrio history

The group was born in 2013 when violinist Eli Wrankle, then 15 years old, staged a small recital in his family home in Tocqueville, Utah to raise funds for his high school orchestra to travel to Disneyland to perform. After the program, Eli's dad Russell asked Greg Istock and me if we might let Eli jam with us. Till that night I had never made music with either Eli or Greg. Since our musical backgrounds were so wildly different, I didn't expect our styles would gel.

Eli played classical violin and had never improvised. Greg was a veteran pro who played Reggae and had dreadlocks down to his waist. He'd recently purchased a stand-up bass and was learning to mix its sound with his love of percussion. I was totally immersed in folk and cowboy music and enamored with the banjo and how to make it sing. Not exactly a match made in heaven, so I thought, that night as we pulled out our instruments. When we finished that first evening, Eli asked if we could jam again and Greg and I agreed. A couple of rehearsals yielded an invitation to play at a local coffee house, which led us to decide we needed to invent a new sound that left our individual pasts behind in favor of a shared future.

We started calling our music American Desert Music.

Yes, we can claim kinship to an environment. And, we are not alone in showing musical gratitude for the great open spaces of the West.

3hattrio today

Come Morning is our 8^th album. Before it, we made one called Lost Sessions, released in 2021. We called it Lost Sessions because the recordings, stored on a hard drive, were irreparably damaged when a piano landed on the hard drive. As with this new album, the sound is more experimental than our previous recordings. After several delays and misadventures--including Covid--we finally got some of the files back. Greg Istock, our genius of salvage mixing, put together the best of them and this is what arrived. We call it our Covid baby.

During the pandemic, we were forced, like all musicians, to cancel tours, including two to Europe where our biggest audience resides. Eli, who's younger than Greg and me, couldn't survive on music alone, so he moved to Las Vegas with his true love Claire and got a good job at a national company that handles sound and media for big events.

Greg and I started working on solo projects. Greg’s recent album is called Mr. Jones. I put out a recording called Nothin’ Lastin’. We also worked together on a feature length documentary, Tomb of Joseph, directed by Phil Tucket. I scored the music and Greg handled all the recording and arrangements. We also appeared in the film playing 1844 Mississippi ruffians who act as a crude sort of Greek Chorus. The film can be viewed in full on YouTube.

A little over a year ago, Teresa and I moved to Portland, Oregon so Teresa could undertake a year-long hospital residency as a Chaplain. This new direction for Teresa came during Covid as well. For us, the pandemic turned out to be both disruptive and beautifully repurposing.

3hattrio has performed at some of the most prestigious music festivals in Europe including the Tønder Festival in Denmark, Celtic Connections in Scotland and the Gothenburg Sweden Culture Festival. We also appeared twice at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering and have done extensive collaborations with modern dancers including Repertory Dance Theater.

Here are a few words from reviewers: “Fascinatingly original” Magnet Magazine, or “A compelling, hypnotizing, uncompromising album.” American Songwriter Magazine, It's "atmospheric, dark-edged spirituality that's strangely uplifting," said RnR magazine; and, writing at AmericanaUK, reviewer Paul Kerr concluded: "There's a serene Zen-like wisdom imparted - the perfect balm after a hectic day...a singular experience that is hugely rewarding on several levels."

Our hatted trio knows we’ve been granted something truly magical, something not to be squandered. Our agents and friends in Europe would love us to come back and tour again. Now that the world is healthy again, who knows what’s next?

At Greg’s prodding, we started experimenting with musical themes, sending sound files back and forth. Then we were invited to Zion Canyon Mesa, a wonderful artists' retreat high on the red rock cliffs above the National Park. We all have strong ties to this place and have worked to support its building over the past many years. It felt like coming home to stay there and record. We bow to the director, Logan Hebner and to the board chair, Louise Excell who were so supportive of this project.

Come Morning is complete now. We send this music out to the world with love and gratitude.