On the Trail with The Lonesome Pines

In the early weeks and months of the pandemic, confined to my Brooklyn apartment in the silenced city, I dreamed of wide-open spaces and the freedom to roam. I started researching “trail songs” from the singing cowboy era of the 1930s-40s, drawn to the images in the lyrics: silver stars, purple hills, slumbering shadows, and the lights of Old Santa Fe glinting in the distance. What heaven, to saddle up a reliable horse and wander, unworried and unhurried, under a vast western sky!

As I delved deeper, I learned that many trail songs were written not only by singing cowboys, but by jazz and film composers and lyricists like Johnny Mercer, Benny Carter, Frank Loesser, and others. A song making its debut in a Western film starring Roy Rogers or Gene Autry would often go on to be recorded by a swinging big band or the original hip cowboy, Bing Crosby—the lines between genres were, happily, blurrier back then.

The songs on this album evoke all the romantic mythology of the American West and remind us that the answers to many of life’s big questions can be found in contemplative solitude, the beauty of the natural world, and the arms of a loved one. Thank you for listening.

Happy trails,
Hilary