Our Song of the Day is a set of songs from AJ Woods collectively titled ‘Songs from a River’ featuring “Gila” and “Middle Fork”.
Born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, AJ Woods has been a part of the Southwest music scene for over a decade. He has released two full-length albums (S/T, 2013, The Fence, 2016), a critically-acclaimed EP (Halocline, 2019), as well as singles and live recordings, all of which have earned him comparisons to people such as Jason Molina, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, and Neil Young.
As soon as I heard these songs and watched the video, my mind was instantly made up that this was something exceptional, both calming and beautiful to listen to (and watch) and certainly deserving of Song of the Day on Folk Radio UK.
AJ provides a personal insight into both songs as well as the video which was filmed in the Rio Grande:
I wrote both “Gila” and “Middle Fork” last season during a series of week-long backpacking trips into the Gila Wilderness in southwestern New Mexico while attempting to physically distance. The Gila is often referred to as “the first wilderness” and it’s also one of the biggest and roughest in North America at 3.3 million acres of crumpled country. Last season I embarked on most of these trips alone with just me and my dog Posey (featured crossing the Rio Grande in the video).
I mention my dad in the song Gila, “My father’s hands once toiled among these.. lightning split Alligator Juniper Trees..”. In the mid to late ’80s, my father worked in the Gila as a wildland firefighter, also known as a “Hot Shot”. He introduced me to the area as a kid. We’d listen to “Red Headed Stranger” on the drives down and he’d tell me stories about the legendary people that the area had produced like Geronimo and Billy the Kid. I mention them both by name in these songs as Goyathlay and Bonney Billy. Furthermore, the family I come from was started in the Gila and my mother came full circle there. “My mother’s ashes flowed these streams..”, is a true story. The last tune, “Moonshiner” is a traditional ballad believed to be of either Irish or Appalachian origin. Alcoholism and addiction run deep in me, my family and community so for the last two years I’ve abstained from booze completely, hence the lyrics “Now we just try not to drink..”.
The video was an idea pitched by my dear friend and fellow Albuquerque native Laurence Rhohelius. I told him that I had come up with a few new songs during my lone wanderings down in Gila. He suggested we make a video in the middle of the Rio Grande not far from his home in the South Valley. So one morning we, along with my friend Jeremy Barnes (of Neutral Milk Hotel and A Hawk and a Hacksaw), went down to the river with just a vague idea, an old wicker chair, a field recorder on a tripod and a phone camera. We set it all down in a shallow part of the water and I ran two takes of each of the songs with cold bare feet while sinking into the sediment. Laurence did all of the visual layering and Jeremy did the sound mixing. Later, I decided to name the collection Songs From a River.
I have plans to work some of these songs into a larger album of the same name, Songs from a River and I hope to release it later this year.
Laurence Rhohelius:
“I know how important the natural world is in AJ’s songs, and I know how he feels about the River… It was warm for the season. We waded to an island and spent the day filming. It was quite easy because AJ always plays his songs beautifully, and it was not too windy, and there weren’t too many planes overhead. Anyone living in a desert understands how we feel about The Rio Grande River.”
More here: https://www.ajwoods.net/