is a musical outlaw hero. Like the rugged loners who populate the spaghetti westerns from which he draws much of his inspiration, the Denver experimental musician blazes his own trails, breaks a few hearts and pulls a few burrs out of his boots while crafting his sun-drenched psychedelic desert laments. Best known for his work with , and , this week Stevens finally makes his mark as a solo artist, releasing two EPs at once.
Released on Denver’s own , “Highway Driveway” serves as a peaceful-yet-exhilarating soundtrack to a man’s escape from the city and into the Sonoran desert. It’s a moody, reflective collection that juxtaposes organic instrumentation with analog electronic blips. Its dusty tin heart beats irregularly, like the twitching, wiggling gauges on the dashboard of a ’70s station wagon as it labors across America’s sun-burnt western expanses.
“The Poquito Pioneer,” the looser companion cassette released by under the pseudonym JJango Cleefworth Morriconez (spaghetti western nerds should be able to unpack that one fairly easily), charts the same course, but from the perspective of a Salton Sea native returning to his homeland. Like an old cowboy who’s spent too much time in the city, its hat is ill-fitting, its boots too well-worn and its approach to the once-familiar desert landscape wary and rusty. Where “Highway Driveway” is the American euphoria and freedom of driving, “The Poquito Pioneer” is the heat stroke and fever dreams that follow.
The artwork for both EPs includes photos of Leonard Knight’s . Like Stevens, Knight, too, is an outlaw hero. Creating art out of mud and garish globs of paint, then subjecting it all to the intoxicating, unforgiving conditions of the desert, Knight creates the visual equivalent of Stevens’s music: a vivid, dizzying statement in the midst of a harsh, otherworldly environment.
Steal “Trotting Along” from “Highway Driveway” to get a better idea of what the artist is up to, then pop over to to download the full EPs. Though both are available for free, we highly recommend ponying up the few dollars for the physical releases. “Highway Driveway” is available as a CD in a hand-sewn case made from road maps, and “The Poquito Pioneer” comes as a cassette in a beautiful library listening center case. Both are limited to 50 copies, so hurry.
Jeffrey Wentworth Stevens performs with Wenworth Kersey at at 9 p.m. on Sunday, July 24 as part of . Click to view the full line-up and buy tickets — $40 for a four-day wristband.
Please note that downloads offered via Steal This Track are intended to whet your appetite, and are NOT CD-quality recordings. If you want those, please support the artists by buying their music and/or seeing them live.
If you’re a band or musician ready to expose your fresh sounds to the readers of Reverb, email your tracks — along with any interesting facts about them, as well as a photo or album art — to Eryc Eyl for consideration.
Eryc Eyl is a veteran music journalist, critic and Colorado native who has been neck-deep in local music for many years. Check out for local music you can HEAR, and the for stories about Denver musicians doing extraordinary things. Against his mother’s advice, Eryc has also been known to . You can also follow Sorry, Mom.
