Hi there … and welcome to Mountain Mama’s Earth Music … and today a celebration of the desert
1) Horseback in my Dreams, Kelly Joe Phelps 4:21
2) One Morning, Gillian Welch 2:42
The readings today come from the book Desert Solitaire, A Season in the Wilderness; A celebration of the beauty of living in a harsh and hostile land by Edward Abbey
If a man knew enough he could write a whole book about the juniper tree. Not juniper trees in general, but that one particular juniper tree which grows from a ledge of naked sandstone near the old entrance to Arches National Monument
3) Trees, T Nile 4:46
When we think of rock we usually think of stones, broken rock, buried under soil and plant life, but here all is exposed and naked, dominated by the monolithic formations of sandstone, which stand above the surface of the ground and extend for miles, sometimes level sometimes tilted or warped by pressures from below, carved by erosion and weathering into an intricate maze of glens, grottoes, fissures, passageways and deep narrow canyons.
At first look it all seems like a geologic chaos, but there is method at work here, method of a fanatic order and perseverance: each groove in the rock leads to a natural channel of some kind, every channel to a ditch and gulch and ravine, each larger waterway to a canyon bottom or broad wash leading in turn to the Colorado River and the sea.
4) World Spins Madly On, The Weepies 2:43
5) Magnolia, J.J. Cale 3:02
The Fire. The odor of burning juniper is the sweetest fragrance on the face of the earth, in my honest judgment; One breath of juniper smoke, like the perfume of sagebrush after rain, evokes in magical catalysis, like certain music, the space and light and clarity and piercing strangeness of the American West. Long may it burn.
6) Fire on the Mountain, Grateful Dead 6:26
, a world which surrounds and sustains the little world of men as sea and sky surround and sustain a ship.
7) She Came Along, Sharam, 3:32
In the mixture of starlight and cloud-reflected sunlight in which the desert world is now illuminated, each single object stands forth in preternatural though transient brilliance, a final assertion of existence before the coming of each night: each rock and shrub and tree, each flower, each stem of grass, diverse and separate, vividly isolate, yet joined each to every other in a unity which generously includes me and my solitude as well.
8) Desert At Night, Calmsound 2:00
9) Morning Song, Desert Noises :42
If it’s your truck or car which has failed you, you’d be advised to tap the radiator, unless it’s full of Prestone. If this resource is not available and water cannot be found in the rocks or under the sand and you find yourself to tired and discouraged to go on, crawl into the shade and wait for help to find you. If no one is looking for you write your will in the sand and let the wind carry your last words and signature east to the borders of Colorado and south to the pillars of Monument Valley – someday, never fear, your bare elegant bones will be discovered and wondered and marveled at.
10) Footsteps, JJ Grey and Mofro 2:19
11) Farmer From the West, Joshua James 3:58
Mountain Mama’s Earth Music is heard here on KDRT 95.7 FM, in Davis, CA and you can check out today’s play list, listen to the show or any of other great shows any old time by logging onto KDRT.org.
In a deep stillness, in a somber solemn light, these beings stand, these fins of sandstone hollowed out by time, the juniper trees so shaggy, tought and beautiful, the dead or dying pinyon pines, the little shrubs of rabbitbrush and blackbrush, the dried-up stalks of asters and sunflowers gone to seed, the black-rooted silver-blue sage. I am almost prepared to believe that this sweet virginal primitive land will be grateful for my departure. Yes. Feet on earth. Knock on wood. Touch stone. Good luck to all
Peace
12) Down from the Mountain, Fatpaw 15.46
Post new comment