Hi everybody!
Thanks so much for being here this Thursday morning.
It’s been a tumultuous time for me here in Taos, NM, as I imagine it has been for many of you. As above, so below. Ennui Gallery, the space I’ve been producing concerts at here in town, has officially announced that it will be closing later this year. The final show that I’ll be producing in the gallery space will be this coming Monday, March 18th.
In the midst of navigating all of that, as well as some other creative changes that I’ll discuss in future newsletters, I’ve found myself in a big of a slog-like moment - the kind that comes along when you need to see a project through to its completion in order to clear the space for the new. It seems possible that I’ll continue with the Sunset Series sometime this fall, after my collaborator Sarah Hart sees through the process of closing her gallery. That being said, I’m looking forward to putting a lot more time into recording my own music this Spring once the responsibility of booking shows clears for at least a few months.
I recently had the privilege of appearing on my friend Jeremy Shatan’s podcast, Discover Music with An Earful. I first met Jeremy during the period that we both worked at the New York Genome Center in 2016-2017. Jeremy’s rich connection to New York City’s musical history aside, we really hit it off in the way that only two omnivorous music lovers can. During that period when we met, he was basically the only writer who championed the music I was making with my band Ocean Music. His support has meant a lot to me over the years, and I was touched when he asked me to be the first-ever guest on his podcast. People unaware of the various challenging experiences I’ve moved through over the last 7 years will hear a clearer, and more succinct, version of that story in this podcast interview than I’ve told elsewhere.
Check out some of Jeremy’s current writing at the link above!
In other news, I went on a hike this weekend.
For those of you interested in following along with some of my other recent journalistic work, here are links to a few pieces that I wrote for Taos News/Tempo last month:
A piece on local World Music concert promoters Roots and Wires
A piece on local photographer Evan Yee, who is in my estimation the “lens of the Taos Underground”
Please consider becoming a paid subscriber of this newsletter and podcast! For just $7 a month, you too can support this project of mine. <3
FRESH WIND SESSION No. 27
Marisa Ireland of Desert Prose
Recording Date: 27 February 2024
KNCE 93.5 FM Premiere Date: 10 March 2024
Substack Premiere: 14 March 2024
I would describe Marisa Ireland, who fronts a band in Taos called Desert Prose, as the first micro-influencer I’ve done a Fresh Wind session with. With just under 50K followers on Instagram, her profile reads: “I make music/fun of myself in Taos, New Mexico.” Interspersed among videos of her cats and self-deprecating monologues are snippets of her playing some of her original songs, either solo or with her backing band. While I can’t say I relate greatly to her other social media content, there is something undeniable about her music.
Ireland’s songwriting is personal, direct, and to the point. She’s one of those musicians who could go a few months without writing a song, and then when the inspiration or life-tragedy hits write five in a week. The first song she pulled out of her bag for the session had been written just the day before. Called “The Curse”, the song’s lyrics firmly place the listener in the 21st century world that Ireland’s social media persona is swimming in. Over a catchy and chugging riff, she croons:
I don’t care if she’s watching all my stories
I don’t care if my bubble got burst
I don’t care if I’ve fallen from your glory
She’ll always know you picked me first
Growing up partly in Tennessee and partly in Southern California, Ireland had a brief career as an actor in her teenage years. It was only after moving back to the Nashville area in her late-teens/early twenties that she started to find herself being drawn to the guitar, writing song after song that seemed to flow through her. After moving to Taos in 2015, finding herself inspired by the New Mexico music scene’s relative freedom of expression, Ireland began to put together a band for her Desert Prose project.
Though many recording projects have been attempted by the various iterations of the Desert Prose band over the last decade, at the time of writing only two recordings have made into circulation on digital streaming platforms.
Though Ireland discussed an album currently in the works with her live band during our interview, she also expressed that she might be leaving town before that album comes to fruition. The songs that she played over the course of her Fresh Wind session ranged in composition from 2016 to 2024. Since the time of their recording, all six of them have firmly lodged themselves in my brain’s musical jukebox.
None of the six compositions you’ll hear on this Fresh Wind session are available anywhere else on the internet at this time. You’re in for a treat.
I want to send a special thank you <3 <3 <3 to the handfuls of people who have already taken the leap and chosen to financially support this newsletter and podcast! As I develop the newsletter half of this Substack over the next few months, I’m looking forward to figuring out different ways I can provide special and exclusive content to those who are supporting this project. Just below, I’m sharing a recent voice memo demo of a cover I’ve been working on of The Beatles’ “I’m So Tired”. A more fleshed out studio version is in the works for the spring.
Is this the kind of in-process stuff y’all would be interested in hearing?
Thanks for tuning in!
6: Fresh Wind Session No. 27: Desert Prose