Hello!
I’m excited to be launching the Substack version of my One More Song project in a proper way today. Except for short missives about One More Cup and Boat School, the two EPs of covers that I released last spring, it has been nearly three years since I’ve regularly shared my creative work with a wider audience. In that time, I’ve been busy developing a new practice based in and around my new home of Taos, New Mexico - where I’ve dwelled since the summer of 2020.
In June of 2021, I got the opportunity to host a radio show on the short-range radio station KNCE Taos 93.5 FM (otherwise known as True Taos Radio). Over the last three years, I’ve made my way to the Excella Airstream that the station broadcasts from nearly 100 times to spin vinyl records, share music from the internet, and, most meaningfully, to broadcast radio sessions with artists from Taos that I’ve recorded in my home studio.
Over the last two years, I have recorded 24 of these sessions, all with artists local to or passing through Taos. It has been a really rewarding experience getting to capture these artists in both a stripped-down musical setting, and also an intimate interview environment. Many subscribers of my former mailing list will remember the Fresh Wind Spotify playlist that I updated weekly from May 2019 through October 2021. As I got into the groove of doing the live radio broadcasts, I stepped away from that platform and format. And, as lockdowns began to lift in Taos, I began to be more inspired by the wide variety of music that is made and shared here than I had been searching for new music on the internet. As I got more into the groove of doing these sessions, I decided to transfer the Fresh Wind name to them. As is perhaps the case in most music scenes, the majority of artists don’t always have the means (or desire) to formalize their work into albums, EPs, or even singles. With the cost of quality studio time being prohibitive to most acts, much of their new material is often lost to the flow of time. These radio sessions are my attempt to capture some of that fleeting music here in Taos.
As the new year comes into being, my goal is to record two new Fresh Wind sessions every month in 2024. Throughout the next year, I will be digitally circulating the radio sessions from 2021-2023 for the first time in alternation with these new sessions. All of the new sessions will continue to premiere on KNCE Taos 93.5 FM, and then make their internet debut here on Substack. In the coming weeks, I will also be getting these sessions onto Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms for a broader audience beyond this particular music community.
One of the reasons I have transitioned my mailing list to this Substack platform is the relative ease with which any of my readers can choose to financially support this documentary project. I am not planning on placing any of my content behind a paywall for the time-being. It is a vulnerable moment for me to ask for your support in this endeavor, but I hope that you will choose to economically support this project of mine if you do find yourself enjoying the Fresh Wind sessions in the weeks to come.
I am excited to share that 2024 will see the release of a lot of my own music as well! There is a covers LP in the works for the New York label Brassland, as well as a series of singles from my new band Big Numbers. That group was unexpectedly formed here in Taos last spring with fellow KNCE DJs Scott Randolph and Peter Halter. For those looking for some more Richard Aufrichtig originals in their life, they shall be arriving this year! More on all of those things to come, along with weekly musings on musical fascinations and fixations.
Other projects that have filled my plate since last writing, of which I’ll share more in the weeks to come, include a concert series at Taos’ Ennui Gallery and regular pieces for Tempo, the arts supplement to Taos’ only weekly newspaper, Taos News.
For now, I’ll get to the first Fresh Wind session I am sharing in this format…
FRESH WIND SESSION No. 20
Lonnie the Cloud featuring Spudnick
Recording Date: 31 October 2023
KNCE Taos 93.5 FM Premiere Date: 9 November 2023
Substack Premiere: 18 January 2024
I first met Lonnie Leary, who plays his original songs under the name Lonnie The Cloud, at one of the sporadic meetings of the Taos Songwriters Guild. Not truly a guild, but rather a transient collective of musicians sharing new material with each other and offering feedback, the meeting I attended took place in the cold winter months of 2023 inside the now-shuttered Taos venue The Old Montgomery. I had seen Lonnie around town many times over the last few years, and while his striking haircut and playful demeanor had often caught my eye, we never had the opportunity to exchange words until that fateful night. When he tore into his original composition, “Kundalini and Cocaine,” I knew I had to have him on my radio show for a Fresh Wind session.
I find “Kundalini and Cocaine” to be the most insightful song I’ve yet to hear on the scene here in Taos (and elsewhere, of course) where the world of “new age” interests intersects with the world of nightlife and drugs. The opening stanza goes:
“She’s been doin’ kundalini, she’s been doin’ cocaine
Doin’ anything she can to keep away the pain
Tequila at night, Kombucha in the day
Her meditation seminar starts on Saturday”
The second stanza is no less brutal:
“He’s been watching Youtube videos, smokin’ lots of pot
Says he is a Buddhist, but he knows he’s really not
He’s got an OM tattoo on his chest
He just bought his tickets to the music fest”
Then, the first chorus brings it all back home:
“This is us, these are our friends
This is you and me just tryin’ to do our best
But it’s all a joke, it’s such a laugh
Tell me, who can I pay to get my sanity back?”
The song continues with many more incisive portraits of folks on the scene, but comes full circle with a disarming self-portrait:
“I’ve been workin’ on a song makin’ fun of my peers
But I’m sittin’ all alone and I’m drinkin’ beer
I got a brown skid mark in my underwear
I’m a hard-workin’ man from my lazy boy chair”
When the song share came to an end on that winter’s night last year, I introduced myself to Lonnie formally, and straight away invited him to do a radio session at his earliest convenience. As things go, it was eight or nine months later that the day of the session actually arrived. I was delighted when Lonnie informed me that he’d be recording with local musician Nick Cohon on fiddle and mandolin. Cohon, who performs with Lonnie The Cloud under the pseudonym Spudnick, had a former career as a guitarist in the influential 2010s metal band Cormorant, and is one of the revolving hosts of KNCE’s Sunday afternoon bluegrass show, Hambone Radio. Cohon and Leary met while playing in the backing band for Santa Fe-based Americana singer Esther Rose, who Leary still plays drums for.
Though this Fresh Wind session marks the recording debut of the Lonnie The Cloud project, Leary has had a prolific career as a drummer in the US independent music scene for the last decade plus. Before his position in the Esther Rose band, he notably performed with singer-songwriter Andrew Graham on a number of projects. I’m happy to share that since their Fresh Wind recording session, Lonnie The Cloud feat. Spudnick have begun to make live appearances around town, and a proper LP is now in the works.
Over the course of this Fresh Wind Session, you will hear 5 Lonnie Leary originals (“Ladybug”, “Living a Lie”, the aforementioned “Kundalini and Cocaine”, “Vortex Blues”, and “Tomorrow, Too”) and one traditional tune (“8th of January”) interspersed with, I hope, insightful interviews about the past, present, and future of the Lonnie The Cloud project.
*all session photos taken on Instax Wide 300 camera by Richard Aufrichtig
1: Fresh Wind Session No. 20: Lonnie The Cloud feat. Spudnick