Hal Cannon's CD
Here are notes from friends and fans....
"Hal Cannon has done a lifetime of good work in music and folklore, much of it in the background. This cultured native son of Salt Lake City has made the promotion and documentation of western culture his life’s work. From playing traditional music with the Deseret String band, to founding the Western Folklife Center in Elko Nevada and directing the annual Cowboy Poetry Gathering held there each year, to producing radio programs on song writing, Native American stories, and ranch life for National Public Radio, Hal has made an incredible mark.
In recent years Hal has focused on writing his own songs, and he brings them and his voice to the front of the stage with this wonderful recording. Included are a few of the expected cowboy themes, but the overall focus is on a sense of place. His deep awareness and obvious love of nature, including its crucial human element, overlay these quiet contemplations on the range and storms, haunted soldiers and lonely old men. The sound of the recording, and the friendly front parlor orchestra he’s assembled, deserve special mention. Traditional guitar and banjo are heard, but they are sifted together with piano and oboe, and the bowed instrument is sometimes a fiddle, sometimes a violin. It is both unique and perfectly fitting to Hal’s place in this world. His recording sounds like home."
Tim O'Brien
"Great Songs, great production... the arrangements are very tasty and complement the songs. The musicians are fantastic. This is a milestone."
Don Edwards - America's Cowboy Balladeer
"Hal Cannon's CD sounds wonderful. It's eclectic, artistic and musically sound." - Michael Martin Murphey
"The West is Hal Cannon's world. He's lived in it. He knows it. He loves it. He makes up music and songs about it. He plays and sings of the beauty, the history, the mystery, the modern reality of the West. This album is Hal Cannon's "small mark" which he leaves in the place he loves to live. Let him lead you into his world. It will grow on you. It will stay with you."
Jim Rooney, Record Producer
"Your CD is wonderful--fabulous range of styles and emotions, touching, humorous, musically gifted and strong."
Robert Newman, Dean, College of Humanities, University of Utah
"Fine work. all tracks have an elegant sort of cross ‘tween folk, cowboy and classical."
Tom Russell - singer-songwriter
"I’ve been playing your wonderful CD every morning as I wash the dishes (my regular music-listening hour). It’s just terrific...Just a great piece of work."
Steve Zeitlin - Executive Director City Lore, New York
"My greatest praise: it's going on my ipod!!"
Gary McMahan- cowboy singer
"It's a bit haunting and I'm compelled to listen again and again to try to decipher the story within the story. I love it."
Brenn Hill- cowboy singer
"This is really a folksong album with a college education... the singersongwriters of this world should take note.
Bertram Levy - banjoist and bandoneonist
"What a fine collection of songs. The production really makes me want to put it on replay"
Joyce Woodson - singer
I love the record...your CD is filled with songs and poetry of great personality and appeal with the most surprising and fun arrangements and settings.
George Holt, Director of Performing Arts & Film Programs,
North Carolina Museum of Art
"Superbly comforting but still awake and on target, like I remember the music of the late and great songwriter Kate Wolf."
Smokey Koelsch - former record store owner
In recent years Hal has focused on writing his own songs, and he brings them and his voice to the front of the stage with this wonderful recording. Included are a few of the expected cowboy themes, but the overall focus is on a sense of place. His deep awareness and obvious love of nature, including its crucial human element, overlay these quiet contemplations on the range and storms, haunted soldiers and lonely old men. The sound of the recording, and the friendly front parlor orchestra he’s assembled, deserve special mention. Traditional guitar and banjo are heard, but they are sifted together with piano and oboe, and the bowed instrument is sometimes a fiddle, sometimes a violin. It is both unique and perfectly fitting to Hal’s place in this world. His recording sounds like home."
Tim O'Brien
"Great Songs, great production... the arrangements are very tasty and complement the songs. The musicians are fantastic. This is a milestone."
Don Edwards - America's Cowboy Balladeer
"Hal Cannon's CD sounds wonderful. It's eclectic, artistic and musically sound." - Michael Martin Murphey
"The West is Hal Cannon's world. He's lived in it. He knows it. He loves it. He makes up music and songs about it. He plays and sings of the beauty, the history, the mystery, the modern reality of the West. This album is Hal Cannon's "small mark" which he leaves in the place he loves to live. Let him lead you into his world. It will grow on you. It will stay with you."
Jim Rooney, Record Producer
"Your CD is wonderful--fabulous range of styles and emotions, touching, humorous, musically gifted and strong."
Robert Newman, Dean, College of Humanities, University of Utah
"Fine work. all tracks have an elegant sort of cross ‘tween folk, cowboy and classical."
Tom Russell - singer-songwriter
"I’ve been playing your wonderful CD every morning as I wash the dishes (my regular music-listening hour). It’s just terrific...Just a great piece of work."
Steve Zeitlin - Executive Director City Lore, New York
"My greatest praise: it's going on my ipod!!"
Gary McMahan- cowboy singer
"It's a bit haunting and I'm compelled to listen again and again to try to decipher the story within the story. I love it."
Brenn Hill- cowboy singer
"This is really a folksong album with a college education... the singersongwriters of this world should take note.
Bertram Levy - banjoist and bandoneonist
"What a fine collection of songs. The production really makes me want to put it on replay"
Joyce Woodson - singer
I love the record...your CD is filled with songs and poetry of great personality and appeal with the most surprising and fun arrangements and settings.
George Holt, Director of Performing Arts & Film Programs,
North Carolina Museum of Art
"Superbly comforting but still awake and on target, like I remember the music of the late and great songwriter Kate Wolf."
Smokey Koelsch - former record store owner