Wake The Dead is out today

Hello friends,

As many of you know, once upon a time The Mission Express and I had a tradition of playing The Make-Out Room here in San Francisco during Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in October. We’d have friends like the North Mississippi Allstars, Kelly Willis, Jon Langford, Clem Burke, the Mastersons, Scott McCaughey – and lots of folks who were in town – sit in. Aaron Lee Tasjan, people! Don’t want to forget him. Aaron himself sat in one year. (I know I’m forgetting someone!) I don’t know why we stopped. Maybe we’ll take up the tradition again. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

One year, I vividly remember breaking down all of our gear after a hard pounding set. And sitting around with the band in those Naugahyde® booths enjoying a few beers (or Diet Coke in my case). We’d pretty much finished breaking down our stuff; they were clearing the house for Cumbia Night.

That was the first time I experienced Cumbia Night: the DJ was playing these amazing records from Peru, Columbia, and Mexico. And the bass subs were cooking. And the records were filling up the room. We were kicking back watching the place fill up. People dancing by themselves and couples dancing, too. Others dancing alone in the shadows.

I can still see Vicente showing Stephie a couple introductory dance moves. The place was starting to fill in and the crowd in full sway to the music was just glorious. It stirred something in me.

I didn’t want the night to end.

From there, I started collecting Cumbia records. Vinyl, whatever… Pretty much collected all the Disco Mas 7” 45s. And got to be a bit of an evangelist.

My friends from Trip in the Country show remember me going on about it, I’m sure.

And I really found a great musical companion during my bout with the big C. (Lord Have Mercy!) And the little c. (Anthony Fauci Have Mercy!) Eventually when I got to feeling good enough to travel, I started to drive the Ford Econoline down to Santa Cruz to paddle out on the longboard.

Sometimes I’d sneak over to Salinas to jam with ¿Qiensave?, a Central Valley Cumbia band I’d fallen in love with.

At the same time, I was sending Klippy mixes galore, more than a co-writer can handle. And, before too long, we were writing songs. Big C and little c be damned!

We found a new thing to tap into. And it was a groove. A stone groove! As Doug Sahm would say.

There’s something about dancing that’s life affirming. I might not be able to explain the rhythmic anatomy of what happens when we’re taking Cumbia and mixing it with bits of bolero and Tejano music and rock and roll, but when I see people dancing to it, that’s something I understand. That’s something everybody understands.

Eventually, this obsession – all during my sometimes brutal “treatments” for lymphoma – led to songs, songs, and more songs. And the genesis of a new record, through sessions here, there and everywhere. Oakland, Nashville, Austin, parts unknown.

I’m happy to report that it all came together, with Qiensave backing me up, often times blending with The Mission Express. We’d track as many as eight musicians playing at the same time. And today, the first single is yours, whoever is ready for it..

“Wake the Dead” from the album of the same name! And we’ve got a video and everything. Like they say (and they say it a lot), check it out.

More to come. But for now, we’ve got a lot of great stuff in our online stores. And while we’re here, it once again occurs to me that people who say they love vinyl and don’t buy it are cheap bastards. We can help you. We have tons of vinyl including Age of Miracles (on vinyl for the first time outside of a limited German release in 2004), the Bobby Fuller reissue, and Night Surfer on 7” singles. (We found a few more!) Don’t let it go pear-shaped, good people.

Onwards,

–CP

P.S. If you want to get deeper into the real nitty-gritty with some more of my personal writing, you can follow me over at Substack.

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GIGSVILLE

w/The Mission Express

Jul 27 Richmond, CA – Point San Pablo Harbor

Sep 28 Novato, CA – HopMonk Tavern

w/Cumbia Shoes

Nov 5 Oberhausen, DE – Zentrum Altenberg

Nov 6 Heilbroon, DE – Waldhaus

Nov 7 Russelheim, DE – Das Rind

Nov 8 Hamburg, DE – Nochtspeicer

Nov 9 Malmo, SE – Plan B

Nov 10 Copenhagen, DK - Råhuset

Nov 11 Aarhus, DK - Headquarters

Nov 13 Berlin, DE – Privat Club

Nov 15 Šumperk , CZ – Blues Alive Fest

Nov 16 Vienna, AT – Chelsea Club

Nov 17 Geislelin, DE - Rätschenmühle

Nov 18 Zurich, CH - El Lokal

Nov 20 Bilbao, ES - Kafe Antzokia

Nov 21 Santander, ES - Santander Stage

Nov 22 Madrid, ES - El Sol

Nov 23 Valencia, ES - Loco Club

Nov 24 Zaragoza, ES - Rock and Blues Cafe

Nov 26 Leffinge, BE – De Zwerver

Nov 27 Groningen, NL - VERA

Nov 28 Bolsward, NL - Ons Gebouw

Nov 29 Hengelo, NL - Metropool

Nov 30 Brussels, BE - Tough Enough @ Botanique

Dec 1 Amsterdam, NL - Bitterzoet

Feb 19 Oxford - The Bullingdon

Feb 20 Leeds - Brudenell Social Club

Feb 21 Manchester - Yes Pink Room

Feb 22 Newcastle - The Cluny

Feb 23 Glasgow - St Lukes

Feb 24 Sheffield - Greystones

Feb 25 Leicester - The International

Feb 26 Nottingham - Metronome

Feb 27 Cambridge - Portland Arms

Feb 28 Norwich - Arts Centre

Mar 1 Hassocks - Mid Sussex Music Hall

Mar 2 Bristol - Lantern

Mar 3 Birmingham - Hare & Hounds

Mar 4 Southampton - 1865

Mar 5 London - The Garage