Album Notes

In the spring of 2011, in the Sonoran Desert just 60 miles north of the Mexican Border, Tucson Arizona's most unusual string quartet gathered in a century-old church to record their second album. The group, consisting of violin, cello, lap steel guitar and acoustic guitar, writes original music through a process beginning with improvisation. Out of hundreds of ideas, the finest are selected and woven together into carefully articulated musical landscapes.
Classically trained violinist Oliver Blaylock complements Douglas Francisco's self-taught lap steel (slide) guitar work to provide a pair of very different virtuosic lead instruments. Guitarist Paul Wright's intensely percussive style of guitar playing is joined by Brian Hullfish's lyrical cello to drive the fast songs to a frenzied pace and lull the sleepy, delicate laments to a restrained dignity.
Because improvisation is such a big part of the creation and performance of these songs, the entire album was recorded live in order to capture the music's spontaneous, living nature.