Haunted Windchimes: Out With The Crow
Haunted Windchimes:
Rocky Mountain High Harmonics
By Jamie Jobb
“Haunted Windchimes” is one crooked handle for the fantastic Colorado string quintet that played Armando’s twice this year. Their name may imply breezy new-age chamber music, but the band don’t play that stuff in Martinez. They ain’t playin’ spook-fairie dance numbers neither!
Their gritty heart-felt tunes are hard to describe actually, grounded as they are in the Rocky Mountains where folks tend to get lofty views. And speak their minds.
We could call their music “bluegrass” perhaps, at least in their original number of players (five) and most of their instrumentation (ukulele subs for fiddle). But sometimes their odd toolbox makes them sound almost like a jug band. On any given tune, they may employ melodica, tambourine, harmonica, concertina, banjo ukulele, soprano ukulele, baritone ukulele, toy piano, or kazoo. But no jug, not yet.
Much like bluegrass, their firebrand mountain music is founded simply on precision picking and upbeat harmonics. So what if their mountains aren’t those dissected plateaus surrounding Appalachia, where authentic bluegrass traces its musical roots all the way back to Celtic highlands of yore.
All four current band members write tuneful honky tonk lyrics unsung by the likes of Bill Monroe. Lurking under their soothing string phrasings, unleashed lines get littered with a “bottle of jack” here, a “dynamite stogie” there, a grown man pleading “don’t take my baby away”.
Haunted Windchimes sing to extremes, but their stark words are often cloaked under soft sonic blankets. “Say Yer Sorry” is one slick number sung down the barrel of a gun: “gave back yer diamonds / took back my bed / drink a little whiskey / clear my head”. “Little Box” is a wonderful set-herself-free love song with loopy refrains: “I’ve been workin’ on a sweater / that you surely won’t adore.” We might as well call the band “Soft Jalapeno Tacos”, although that name is probably taken already.
The band can’t change the name now that they’ve had guest slots on “A Prairie Home Companion”. Garrison Keillor correctly claims the group is “popular among the gray hairs, green hairs, purple hairs and all over.” Keillor certainly knows gray hair, having announced in July that he’s retiring next year. That’s a good thing -- now the man can really slow down!
With their second live album recently released, this Colorado band won’t be slowing down anytime soon. Like many groups, they’re best appreciated when heard live on stage where you can watch their fingers.
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Haunted Windchimes are Chela Lujan on banjo; her brother Inaiah Lujan on guitar, banjo and toy piano; his wife Desirae Garcia on baritone ukulele and kazoo; plus the soulful mountain bluesman Mike Clark on mandolin, concertina, harmonica and guitar. Sean Fanning who played upright bass, melodica, tambourine and ukulele left the band mid-year, but the Chimes continued to tour without him.
Like any good bluegrass band, all of them sing sweet front-porch harmony. Clark also has his own independent singer-songwriter career but tours with the Chimes and is integral to their success. The unique grit of Clark’s voice grounds the band, but it seems Inaiah Lujan is the group’s reluctant leader with his own fine singing style. Both men are savvy songwriters who obviously enjoy the rock-solid support of their fellow players, particularly Lujan’s sister and wife who, in addition to their own songwriting skills, bring a true taste of Appalachia to their high-altitude harmonies.
I grew up in the Allegheny/Appalachian region, so my ears know such things. As kids we heard this haunting porch music when we were playing “in the hollers” -- the “hollows” being the sharp valleys that count for “canyons” in those so-called “mountains” back east where “Flatt and Scruggs” was must-see Saturday afternoon TV.
Sing Out magazine lauds Haunted Windchimes’ “rustic honeyed harmonies” which clearly flow from the feminine side of the band. More than just sisters-in-law, Chela and Desirae intuitively grasp how to conjoin voices into that sacred stratosphere of unvarnished country singin’ … I tell ya what!
Oh yes, and did we mention the songs each woman writes tend to scatter a certain poetic pixiedust uncommon to this planet? Listen to Desirae’s “Little Box”, “Giant” and “Your Song” then hear Chela’s “Sea Bride”, “There She Waits” and “Little Bones” … You’ll hear the picture. Whip-crackin’ very short-and-not-so-sweet stories, really.
Basing themselves at the foot of the Front Range in Pueblo Colorado, the Haunted Windchimes trek along with the best of the burgeoning Rocky Mountain music scene which includes inspired bands like The Railsplitters, Ragged Union and The Shook Twins (see sidebar below).
We’re blessed to have a small club like Armando’s give Martinez audiences opportunities to see talent like this up close and personal. We’re glad the Chimes keep coming back … and next time I’m bringing my kazoo.
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New
Mountain Music
Available
on Line
Haunted
Windchimes is one of many modern mountain bands pushing boundaries of
bluegrass in the 21st Century. Someone curious can really get lost
on line looking into these groups, but somehow they’ll begin to
find you once you start looking for them. More than a few local
musicians sense a renaissance among young players inspired by other
young artists on You Tube to bend-and-blend musical styles. Here’s
a few more mountain bands you can discover on line. Jump to this link for list:
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