Set upon the hard scrub granite slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains. Anchored in bedrock, bathed in dust, Old Californio defy easy categorization. Their country-folk tinged rock & roll; rooted, organic and expansive in spirit, traces its homegrown beginnings to a converted chicken coop garage on a forgotten street straight out of the imagination of R. Crumb. If you know, you know.
Now with their new album Metaterranea (due out October 27th), Old Californio reaffirm that they have their own vernacular to speak and a distinct tale to tell.
Led by ambling dreamer, songwriter and lead singer Rich Dembowski, whose lyrics evoke the vast rolling oak savannahs that inspire him, along with guitarist/ vocalist Woody Alplanalp, known for his inventive work with Bobby Womack, Aloe Blacc, Nels Cline, and Thomas Mapfumo, (not to mention his own solo work). Old Californio are at their heart, a conglomeration of old friends with long histories and varied pasts.
Longtime drummer/vocalist Justin Smith (Howlin Rain, The Seeds), anchors a firm rhythmic foundation, while keyboardist Jon Niemann (GospelBeach), has made a name for himself in the greater LA area as a sought after session player/arranger. Longtime bassist for the Californios, Jason Chesney (Mike Nesmith) marks his return offering an imaginative tapestry of Beach Boys-eque harmonies, while guitarist Paul Lacques (I See Hawks In LA, Chris Hillman, and Stan Ridgeway) adds his unique guitar and lap steel.
Old Californio’s lineup is again augmented by bassist Corey McCormick and drummer Anthony Logerfo both of Neil Young’s rhythm section via Lukas Nelson’s Promise of the Real. Lon Hayes and Andres Renteria contribute additional drums and percussion work respectively.
After their last release of 2022’s Old Californio Country, an album of mostly cover songs, Metaterranea marks a return to form for the band.
As their 6th full-length release over a 16-year history, Metaterranea affirms Old Californio as a band existing in a consistent state of musical evolution. Its line-up recurring yet flexible, its sound familiar yet unexpected, its roots in earth yet its head in the clouds.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the standout track “Destining Again,” which starts in laid back acoustic fashion before the band brings in their sunny harmonies. Their style of bluegrass-laced alt-country is brimming with jubilantly jammy guitar work, funky organ, and groovy lyrics about being on the road make for the kind of song that feels soaked in California vibes. Though the lyrics and vocals are nothing to slouch at, one can imagine this song really taking off in the live setting as the band uses it to launch into a fiery jam session.
Listen to the track and read the band’s reflection on the tune below…
I found a book called the Back Roads of California. It’s this really cool coffee table book with prints of hand done watercolors, written in about 1969 or 70. The author drove all the back roads of California he could find, from Southern California to Northern California. He’d write a chapter on each of these roads with these watercolors of the places he’d visited, and just a paragraph of what you’d see there. Forgotten roads that aren’t even there anymore.
At one point in the book there’s a picture of highway 99 and it ends in Weed. It reminded me of our friend Dave Gleason. I just thought, “I’m taking the 99 north up to Weed”, and that just sang in my head. It ends up being this great metaphor for what Destining Again is, which starts with this idea that – everything’s out in front of you already waiting for you to inhabit.
And so it starts off with this, “It’s a long and winding road we’re on. I wonder where it leaves us?”. And the next step is to try and figure out this road, so I get on the road and I’m going to find myself and “damn it, I’m gonna do it”!
But then once I’m on the road, I realize it’s not on a road that’s out there anywhere. It’s wherever you are that you open up into the process, and that’s what Destining is. It’s a verb, it’s active and not something you’re waiting for. Like where Steinbeck takes “west”, this direction, this noun, and turns it into this verb where we are Westering.
So, in the song I’m passing these signs, Paradise, Redding, and I realized it’s this road that keeps me from the Destining. It kind of, to me, symbolizes what Old Californio is. A road leading, hopefully, to somewhere authentic.
