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Celebrated singer, songwriter, cowboy poet, Red
Steagall stands at the forefront of modern-day western
music. For the release of his latest album Red has joined
the growing family of Wildcatter Records that was formed
around 2003. Red's previous CD Wagon Tracks took us on a
journey with a family leaving Ireland to travel across
America to the coast of Oregon in the Columbia Valley. The
Wind, The Wire and The Rail tells of the coming of
the windmill that brought water to the cattle rancher's
stock, the hated barbed wire that the cattle-man used to
fence off the open range making it easier control his
cattle and horses and the growth of the railroad that
moved his heard quickly to market.
Red states "This collection of songs and poems
is a collaboration of several great songwriters and very
special friends of mine." There are ten tracks here,
the first being "The Wire And
The Rail" (Mike Fleming) setting the mood of
the album. The "Texas Silver
Zephyr" (Red Steagall) takes us on a train
journey telling of young love that terminates in sadness.
One of the poems written by Red is the ghostly tale of
"McCorkle and The Wire",
about ranch hands that work the wire fence….beware it's
fit to turn your hair white!!!
"The Wind In The Wheel"
(Red Steagall/Dale Burson) has an easy and relaxing feel,
telling of the windmill that brings life giving water
as the wind gently turns the wheel. Tracks 5 and 6 are
wrong way round to the playing order on the CD cover with
the story of "Muley Was A Railroad
Man" (Steve Spurgin)  followed
by "Six Thousand Miles Of Wire"
written by Red and his brother Danny. The song tells about
the vast areas of land fenced in by the dreaded barbed
wire and the knights of the prairie that worked the cattle
and built the fence-line. Three million acres of land
was fenced off using 6,000 miles of wire to build 1,500
miles of four-strand barbed wire fence.
With his distinctive voice, Red Steagall tells his
stories of life in the west of around a century and more
ago all put to music. "From The
Old Mill" Red recounts his own family history
and the four generations of cowboys that have worked the
land going back to the days of his own grandfather and the
changes that will be seen by his grandchildren. There are
heart-rending stories such as "No
One But God Feels His Pain" about the old man
who the world now passes by and a second poem takes us
back to paint a picture of how good life was and Red
declares that "The Code Of The
West Hasn't Changed" (Red Steagall).
Ride along through this album with Red breathing in
the freshness and charisma of each song and poem that sit
as sweet as a summer meadow blooming full of wildflowers.
Let it all swirl around you as we drift back to yesteryear
and reminisce "How Green Was
The Grazin' Back Then" (Red Steagall/Rich
O'Brien).
April 2006
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