Cowboy Sutra: Hal Cannon's new solo album

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photograph by William Matthews

In 2022, I wrote a weekly post for the Loose Cannon Boost and agonized over asking people to pay. I kept it free mostly because I didn’t want to feel obligated to keep droning on if the spirit wasn’t in it.  Now, I’m missing the exercise of writing about life and music. And I miss you good people who read my words and sometimes even comment.  And now I’m asking for your support.

A subscription is a yearly deal, $5 per month, and it’s the only way Substack makes any profit from hosting the Boost. Hopefully, my writing will last the year. Still, no matter what, I will send all paid subscribers a signed and numbered copy of my new album, in vinyl with a gorgeous original cover by the extraordinary Edward Bateman. Or, you can choose a CD if if you prefer. The physical package will come out early next year. You can also choose not to get a physical manifestation of the music and listen to it for free on any one of the streaming services.

Just a little pitch for vinyl records: First, I like the way they sound, but also, they last longer than any other music listening medium, which holds some reassurance for the music you love. Also, with the care and intention they demand, they give what I consider a better listening experience than music beamed down from the ether. And lastly, I love the big artistic statement of a 12”X12” piece of art. Vinyl albums are both suitable for framing and spinning out music.

Over the next three months, I will release a single song from the album each week. These songs will come out exclusively as part of the free Boost. You will get the recorded song, the lyrics, and an essay exploring the world behind each song. These will not be tedious liner notes and I’ll try to keep them brief. Sound like a deal? OK, then hit subscribe and you become my pal and supporter.

Now a bit about the project and why it might be interesting.

My new album is called Cowboy Sutra. Sutra is an ancient Sanskrit word meaning string or thread. In this case, I see it as a way to stitch together truth and sentiment. These nine songs explore the beauty of old-style contemplative cowboy songs, mostly lamenting the passing of people, beloved animals, places, and times. I can’t explain why but this music is strangely uplifting. I hope you agree. The record is dedicated with great respect to the legacy of three old West singers you’ve probably never heard of: Charlie Willis (1847-1930); W.M (Dick) Devoll (1877-1964); and Kenneth Ward Atwood (1898-1983).

I love old-style cowboy songs. In them, I hear a simple melodic beauty, heartfelt honesty, and a wide breadth of stylistic variation. I sing all the songs on the album, and in many cases, I have revised the words or tweaked the melodies. In addition to voice, the harmonium is the foundational instrument. I also use banjo, mandola, guitar, synthesizer, fretted oud, concertina, harmonica, and other instruments played by friends Deborah Robins on bass clarinet, Devon Lèger on hurdy-gurdy, my old music partner Greg Istock on piano, and Jon Neufeld on guitar. Jon also mixed and mastered the album with great sensitivity.

Somehow in December 2022, I ended up at a meditation retreat on a Hawaiian beach. Each night, my sister Carolyn and dear wife Teresa joined me in group chanting led by the great Kirtan singer Krishna Das. Over a week of nightly singing, I fell in love with his voice and the call-and-response togetherness. I also came to adore the resonance of the harmonium he played.  When I got home, I purchased one made in India, but rather than chant the names of Hindu deities, I started singing old cowboy songs behind the drone of this mini-pump organ. I found I could explore possibilities in singing that are simply not available when you lay down a strict rhythm on a guitar or banjo. The harmonium is a meditative instrument, and those droll old cowboy songs are meditative too. Born out of the endless days following cattle up the trails, singing alone in the wilds on horseback, and at night, cowboys made songs that would soothe the cattle and the self. You can hear it in the earliest recordings of cowboys singing. The deepest roots of cowboy song come without accompaniment. Back in the day, songs were central to all sorts of physical work. But over time, most were drowned out by machines, including, dare I say it, musical instruments.

Cowboy music has been interpreted over and over reinvented with an overlay of everything from jazz, swing, and blues to luscious harmony singing. Cowboy music has proven its adaptability and lasting qualities. It is resilient even to my reworking old songs to make them my own.

Today’s Artist Statement

Mantra: Start simple and see where it takes you. Ground yourself in tradition and you will know how high you can fly. To write, read. To make music, listen. To make art, look around. Impatience and doubt are your enemies.

I did not grow up in the digital age but I have adapted to it. This is a world where massive reservoirs of digital content swirl around middlemen, content providers, and content enablers. As a dinosaur of another age, I hate to think of music as “content.” I lament what this colossal blending has inflicted on the world. I view every song I make, every note, every word as rare and magical. And yet notes decay and the heron that just flew by our home on the river was here, then gone.

Thank you for supporting me and my work, mostly just by taking a few minutes to see and hear what I’ve been up to.  Sharing what I have to offer is central to my life, and I believe music can take us closer to heaven than almost anything else I’ve found.