Uncertain Times, a dash of good news and an invitation

LOOSE ENDS, a BOOST for subscribers only

Dear Subscriber,

You may have noticed that I’ve not posted anything in a couple weeks. Frankly, it’s been nice to take a little break from the weekly regime. In the spirit of loose-idity, I don’t know what lies ahead for the LOOSE Cannon BOOST. Writing prose has been a joy but it’s also been hell on my music.

Confession time: I have not written a song since I started writing the BOOSTS eleven months ago. This is a difficult admission and fills me with guilt. The consolation is that I’ve learned to wax eloquent about music. Please accept my appreciation for subscribing and reading LOOSE Cannon BOOST. Your comments have been precious to me. And, God willing, I’ll send out occasional stories and maybe share new music soon. Please stick with me.

For a guy who always prided himself on juggling many balls in the air, I now love focus and regret diversions. Don’t make me rush things. Just let me do it right. This is so unlike me. My life has been all about cranking it out, always a sprint to the finish line.

I’ve loved writing the Boosts, and then lately my effort has gone into finding ways to fling my new album out into the world. Now I’m plumb tired of putting it out and sort of want to take things in for a while. Surprisingly, making music is more about listening than anything else. So, in its own way, composing music is a good way to take it all in.

A Dash of Good News

AmericanaUK Magazine calls Nothin’ Lastin’ “A stunning collection of songs that will be one of the lasting classics of the year.”

Europe has a dedicated audience for Americana and American folk music. An ecosystem of great reviewers,  music periodicals and radio shows supports the music and builds an audience. In contrast, music journalism in the USA has been in decline for a long time. And then there is taste: European DJs and journalists seem far more open to bending the genres and experimenting with form -- Americana on the margins, like my music and the music of my group, 3hattrio. So, we’ve enjoyed insightful reviews, enthusiastic touring, and great airplay on radio around Europe. We do OK in the good old USA and we appreciate it, but the real passion for our music comes from Europe.

So, it was great to see the EuroAmericana charts for November come out and feature Nothin’ Lastin’ lining up in the #2 position, after just one month out of the chutes. This could not have happened without the support of a lot of DJ’s who work hard to share the music they love. I’m grateful also to Loudon Temple in Scotland and Sandra and Luciano at Lucky Dice Music in The Netherlands who get the music out to the right people for airplay and review.

An Invitation

if you are in the neighborhood, join us,

Sunday, November 20, 2022, 2 PM,

Main Salt Lake Public Library Auditorium

We are pleased to be part of 12 Minutes Max, a monthly curated performance series featuring short works by Utah artists. Our part of the program will launch Nothin’ Lastin’ through four music videos created by three different filmmakers. You’ll have the chance to meet the artists afterwards and CDs and vinyl will be available

The Videos

1.          Thirty-Six Miles, video by Carol Dalrymple, music by Hal Cannon, (3:12)

Carol Dalrymple explores the emerging technology of 360-degree video. Here, she films a performance of the song on a lonely stretch of the old Lincoln Highway in Skull Valley, Utah. Turning your phone or watching through VR glasses, you get an immersive environmental experience accompanying this heart-broke song. After the program, Carol will have extra VR headsets so you can see the full effect of 360. This video has already clocked 17,000 views on YouTube.

Carol works in conjunction with PBS Utah and has garnered thirteen Emmys. She founded Edge of Discovery, which works to amplify unheard voices such as video stories told by Native American producers. Carol made another 360-video of Hal playing the banjo as part of the popular new PBS documentary Call of the Canyon: Zion National Park

2.           Silver Dove, video by Edward Bateman, music by Hal Cannon, (3:56)

Edward Bateman created the cover art for Nothin’ Lastin’. In this video, he animates the cover with magical changes throughout the song, subtly emphasizing its theme of hope and light.

Bateman’s work has been exhibited internationally in twenty-eight countries, his quirky, thought provoking images challenging perceptions of reality. He is also a beloved professor in the University of Utah Art Department where he heads the Photography and Digital Imaging area. He is a longtime friend of Hal’s and has designed other projects for 3hattrio, Hal’s band.

3.          Tarantula March, video by Dan Whitaker, music by Hal Cannon, (2:44)

The LA-based indie music magazine American Pancake wrote of the video, “To say this affair is trippy is an understatement.” This work is not for arachnophobes or those who fear the pourous boundary between an old musician and the teenage self-portrait he titled “Troubled Youth.”

Dan Whitaker is an independent video artist who has become a star of ProRodeo videography, capturing triumph and avoiding disaster in the arena. From Midway, Utah, Dan’s named his production company, Kukaloris, after a word his grandfather coined as an animator for Walt Disney. Dan has produced most of the videos for the 3hattrio and is a longtime collaborator.

4.     Nothin’ Lastin’, video by Dan Whitaker, music by Hal Cannon, (2:46)

Also made by Dan Whitaker, this ambitious production tells a story of frustration in a world of impermanence and false shadows. Each scene represents a verse and the storyline progresses from the narrator, a cowboy, lifting a mug of milk in an innocent toast, through a troubled relationship with a cowgirl played by Kate MacLeod, and into a poignant chaos with our hero treading water in an underwater world of mayhem and destruction.