Life sometimes has a way of complicating the process of making a record, which is never an easy task to begin with.
So it was in the case of Everything We Thought We Wanted (due out September 26th), the third album by the gifted Los Angeles country/Americana band The Far West, and their first for the Blackbird Record Label. Childbirth, a national pandemic, missing masters, and the catastrophic Eaton fire that leveled Southern California’s Pasadena/Altadena area in January 2025 — this story has everything. It’s the band’s most sonically expansive yet, blending raw, emotionally resonant songwriting with layered production, soulful horns, and special guest appearances, including a blistering guitar turn from Dave Alvin. Channeling the grit of L.A. punk, the heart of classic country, and the soul of Muscle Shoals, The Far West deliver a record that’s lived-in, unflinching, and deeply human — the kind of heartbreak you can dance to.
For their new record, The Far West got the opportunity to record for the first time in a real studio — though they had to be a little crafty about it. “We were sneaking into a school of audio engineering where one of the guys in the band was a teacher,” Robert says. “There was a great old Neve board in there. We’d sneak in at midnight, and work from midnight to 4 a.m.”
Once finished, Everything We Thought We Wanted was a powerful and affecting collection of songs that represented a gigantic artistic leap for The Far West. And more than once it came within a hair’s breadth of never seeing the light of day.
That heroic sprint was worth it. Weaving its writers’ broad influences — the folk music of Phil Ochs, Dave Van Ronk, and Bob Dylan, the hardcore country of Waylon Jennings and Charlie Daniels, the pop-conscious ‘60s rock of the Beatles and Badfinger, the rootsy L.A. punk of X, the Gun Club, and Tex and the Horseheads — into a congruent, emotive, soulfully played whole, Everything We Thought We Wanted is a major step forward for one of Southern California’s most talented bands.
But don’t take my word for it. Hear for yourself. —Chris Morris, Los Angeles, May 2025
Today, Glide is excited to premiere the standout track “Joshua Tree” and its accompanying music video. The song is an ode to the enchanting California desert that has inspired artists ranging from U2 to Gram Parsons, with the band delivering heartfelt lyrics set to a soundtrack that feels like a shimmering work of cosmic country with folk-rock undertones. We get bright guitar solos that the band says were inspired by the likes of Neil Young and Nels Cline, and lyrics that capture the sparse beauty of Joshua Tree’s distinctive landscape. Ultimately, there is a feeling of cleansing and soul searching that comes through in the music and lyrics that make this song linger with you long after listening.
Lee Briante describes the process and inspiration behind the song:
“I use a higher part of my voice for this one, which gives it a more delicate and fragile feeling. We used some effects throughout the song to kind of bend time and space and make it all feel a little wobbly.
The song was inspired by many trips to Joshua Tree, and the phrase we came up with one night ..’what happens in vegas stays in vegas, but what happens in joshua tree stays with you for life’ –I wanted to capture that feeling in song.A lot of people head up there to clear their heads, but sometimes wherever you go, there you are, and your baggage follows you. Also, everything you experience is just in your mind anyway.
Aaron’s guitar solo is great again. It’s part Neil Young part Nels Cline to me. You can hear him repeat one lick a few times, really diggin into it. In the studio during the first playback of that solo, Arron pretended to dig a hole with a shovel when he heard himself digging into that little repetition on guitar. Now everytime I hear the song I have this image of him digging a hole in the studio, and if we’re together and we listen to it, one of us will mimic digging a hole.”
WATCH:
