Sometimes an album’s theme will emerge during the recording process. And that’s exactly what happened with The High Hawks’ new album Mother Nature’s Show, due out February 16th on LoHi Records.
“It was total happenstance,” says High Hawk vocalist-guitarist Vince Herman. “As albums often do, you find an unconscious thread in them.”
The unconscious thread in Mother Nature’s Show is a musical travelogue that begins in the high country and ends at the Gulf of Mexico. It’s not a stretch to say the album takes the listener down Highway 61, the oft-called “Blues Highway” immortalized by Bob Dylan that follows the Mississippi River from Minnesota to New Orleans, passing through St. Louis, Memphis and the Mississippi delta.
Most of the album was actually recorded in Minnesota at historic Pachyderm Studios in the small town of Cannon Falls, not far from the banks of the Mississippi and Highway 61, just 20 miles to the west. The sextet of roots music veterans arrived at Pachyderm on New Year’s Day 2023, a Sunday, and over the course of the year’s first week, they recorded the 12 tracks included on the record.
Mother Nature’s Show is the group’s second album, the follow-up to their acclaimed eponymous debut from 2021. Keyboardist-vocalist Chad Staehly finds significance in beginning work on the album on January 1.
“It was like, ‘All right, this is a new chapter, a new year,’” Staehly says. “It’s New Year’s Day, and we’re gathering together to make a record. There was something really cool about all that.”
Like Herman, the keyboardist also sees how the dozen songs on the record represent a musical travelogue.
“After I sat back and was able to digest the record, that really struck me as a strong thread,” he says. “It’s what the record is.”
It’s not surprising The High Hawks recorded a collection of songs that take the listener on a musical journey when you consider the group is a passion project comprised of six musical road warriors and friends who have logged hundreds of thousands of miles in their careers traveling the country from gig to gig.
The High Hawks easily traverse a variety of musical stylings on Mother Nature’s Show — from various rock flavors including Southern, country and psychedelic, as well as honky tonk and even a ballad and a waltz — while maintaining a sonic cohesiveness that claims each style as their own.
The band’s performances throughout the record are top-notch, and there’s very little overdubbing. What you hear are six superb musicians in the Pachyderm tracking room, looking at one another, reacting in real time to what is being played and capturing the kind of musical magic that eludes recording artists who build their records part by part.
When asked about the authenticity of The High Hawks’ new album, Herman assures with a laugh, “AI had no part in the making of this record.”
Today Glide is excited to premiere a behind-the-scenes look at making of the album, which captures this all-star group of musicians bottling their chemistry in the studio.
Chad Staehly describes the inspiration behind the album:
“It’s not easy getting this gang of raconteurs together with everyone going in a million directions, so when we found the time to make another album we had to make sure to document it. Ty Helbach who has been a big part of the crew since the beginning came along armed with cameras and captured us in the wild working on “Mother Nature’s Show’. We’re also very blessed in that many of us can wear multiple hats in this outfit, and Tim Carbone raised his hand to edit a short documentary together from the footage captured while we were working on the album. We hope this gives people a glimpse into what we were up to January of 2023, hiding out at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, MN and having a blast bringing another High Hawks album to life.”
WATCH:
TOUR DATES:
THU, Feb. 15 – Frisco, CO – 10 Mile Music Hall+
FRI, Feb. 16 – Denver, CO – Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox
SAT, Feb. 17 – Boulder, CO – eTown Music Hall
SUN, Feb. 18 – Ft. Collins, CO – Aggie Theatre^
THU, Feb. 29 – West Des Moines, IA – Val Air Ballroom *
FRI, Mar. 1 – St. Paul, MN – Palace Theatre *
SAT, Mar. 2 – Chicago, IL – The Salt Shed *
SUN, Mar. 3 — Madison, WI – The Sylvee *
TUE, May 7 — Portland, OR — Polaris Hall
WED, May 8 — Bend, OR — Domino Room
THU, May 9 — TBA
FRI, May 10 — Novato, CA — HopMonk%
SAT, May 11 — Auburn, CA — Odd Fellows Lodge@
SUN, May 12 — Santa Cruz, CA — Moe’s Alley
THUR, June 27 – Blue Ox Music Festival – Eau Claire, WI
- – w/ Chris Thompson and Friends
^ – w/ Wood Belly - – supporting Greensky Bluegrass
% – w/ Jason Beard and the Whiskey Family Band
@ – w/ Broken Compass Bluegrass
