Treasures from the Blue Canyon Vaults: Songs and Singers from New Mexico and Beyond

by Various Artists

Before leaving office in 1881, New Mexico Governor Lew Wallace summed up his view of the territory in a line often quoted today: "Every calculation based on experience elsewhere fails in New Mexico." The author of 'Ben Hur' could not have predicted that the outlaw-infested territory would later contain more physicists per capita than any other state! This wild, untamed land remains eccentric, the perfect breeding ground for artistic expression of every sort, including music. This album called 'Treasures from the Blue Canyon Vaults' is a brilliant demonstration of New Mexico's varied musical talent. While not pretending to be a true survey of the spectrum of New Mexico music (which would contain more Hispanic and Native American music), it nonetheless represents a startlingly original mix. With the exception of Tom T. Hall's She Gave Her Heart to Jethro and the trucker classic, Phantom 309, all the songs are originals by artists and producers who live in New Mexico, or spent a lot of time there.