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Red Mesa Begin Writing New Album; Playing Unplugged Set Dec. 19

red mesa

Tomorrow night — nothing like a timely post, am I right? — New Mexico’s Red Mesa will play their last show of 2019, and they’re doing something somewhat different for it. You might recall that the first half of their debut album, 2018’s The Devil and the Desert (review here), was a mostly-acoustic affair, not at all shy about bringing along some lap steel or twangy vibe. Well, that’s the set tomorrow night at Taos Mesa Brewing as the Monolith on the Mesa veterans wrap up their year. Obviously they’ve worked in this fashion before — you might say they made half an album that way — but I don’t know how often they’ve done it live, let alone with their current lineup of guitarist/vocalist Brad Frye, drummer/backing vocalist Roman Barham and bassist/vocalist Irish Cantwell. But hey, if you’re in the neighborhood, should be a fun one to catch. And if you’re not in the neighborhood, well, maybe someone’ll be kind enough to throw some of it on the ol’ YouTubers. Nothing’s ever really distant these days, you know.

Next month, Red Mesa will begin the recording process for their second album with an eye toward a 2020 release. I’ll be interested to see if that happens through Frye‘s Desert Records imprint or another outlet — they worked with Ripple Music in 2016 for the split The Second Coming of Heavy – Chapter Four (review here) — but that’s perhaps getting ahead of things and maybe it’s best to let them, you know, finish writing the thing first before sending it off to the pressing plant with this or that logo on back. I’m sure it’ll all work out, and in the meantime, their doing this live acoustic set would seem to be a way of signaling their continued interest in working with different arrangement styles despite Frye having traded out rhythm sections since the first album. However that might manifest in the new material remains to be seen/heard, of course, but it’s something else to keep an ear open for.

Their latest update follows. They’ll record at Empty House Studio in Albuquerque:

red mesa show dec 19

We are writing a new album.

Recording begins in January 2020 at Empty House Studio in Albuquerque, NM.

Our last show of the year is at Taos Mesa Brewing Mothership.

For this special evening Red Mesa will bust out the acoustic guitars, harmonicas, lap steel, cajon, and tambourine to perform songs like we’re sitting around a campfire out in the desert.
7pm All Ages.

Photo by Hunter Dawson

From L to R: Roman Barham (drums, backup vocals) Brad Frye (guitar, vocals), Irish Cantwell (bass, vocals).

https://www.facebook.com/redmesaband/
https://redmesarock.bandcamp.com/

Red Mesa, The Devil and the Desert (2018)

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