MUSIC News:
SANTA FE — Max Gomez is teaming up with New Mexico River Adventures for a special Rio Chama trip this coming Labor Day Weekend for a three-day / two-night adventure; peaceful waters, campfire songs, friends old and new.
Gomez and Gelb — Desert Companion Tour
- August 21 – Silver City, NM – Whiskey Creek Zocalo
- August 22 – Truth or Consequences – El Cortez Theater
- August 23 – Los Alamos, NM – Hans Bethe House
- August 25 – Santa Fe, NM – Tumbleroot Brewery
- August 26 – Corrales, NM – Old San Ysidro Church
Taos-born singer-songwriter Max Gomez joins forces with Tucson’s Howe Gelb and improvisational trio SLANT CAN for the Desert Companion tour this August. With dates across Arizona and New Mexico, this limited tour will feature unique voices who share a devotion to spontaneous storytelling and celebrate their deep roots in the Southwest.
Born and raised in Taos, Gomez grew up immersed in country and blues songwriting traditions before building a career that has taken him across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. His debut album, Rule the World (New West Records), earned critical acclaim, while his latest release, Memory Mountain, produced by Mark Howard, reached #1 on the Alt-Country Radio Chart and further established him as a powerful voice in contemporary American roots music. Outlets including Rolling Stone and No Depression have praised his music. Memory Mountain cements Gomez’s reputation for timeless, emotionally resonant songwriting.
Howe Gelb’s career has long resisted easy categorization. A Tuxon alter-native, explicit in the ways of erosion rock, he has spent more than four decades creating a body of work that blends rock, blues, western grit, jazz, gospel, punk, and experimental textures, earning him ticklish titles such as “godfather of alt-country” and “elder ambassador of desert rock.”
He has built a sweeping catalog of more than 60 albums through his various incarnations, produced albums for John Doe and K.T. Tunstall, and is a founding member of Giant Sand. Says Gelb about the tour, I can’t in good conscience tell you what this band sounds like. It is possible, though, to inform you of what it isn’t. It’s not Americana, blues, country, punk rock, jazz, or anthem rock, although it is the space between all of those things shoved into a blender.”
He continues, “It’s anything that ever came out of these 50 United States somewhere at some point, sonically depicted, ripened, and plucked here for you now to savor.”
Joining Gelb and Gomez for this tour, SLANT CAN features Gelb alongside esteemed musicians Beth Goodfellow (Iron and Wine, Julia Holter, boygenius) and Thøger Lund (John Paul Jones, KT Tunstall, Madeleine Peyroux). The project emerged from rehearsals for a Giant Sand tour and evolved into something unexpected: a live exploration of improvisation in which songs are discovered in the moment.
For more information, tickets, and more, visit maxgomezmusic.com.
