Friday, November 23, 2007

John Huling Ancestral Waters CD

Ancestral Waters was somewhat of a departure for me from my Musical Visions of the Southwest Series. After my fathers passing in 2001, I revisited some of my families "old haunts" around the country. I visited Jackson Hole Wyoming where my mother (who passed in 2005) later told me I was conceived. I also went to the east where 350 years ago or so my ancestors had inter-married and lived with various tribes of the Iroqouis, Narrangansett, Mohawk, Abenakai and others. I visited the Old Huling Cemetary where many of my great grand parents are buried. The leader of the Narragansett tribe kindly showed be around and shared many stories of our Ancestral roots.
I wanted to get inspiration for this new album. I did. More than I could have imagined. Ancestral Waters far exceeded my musical expectations. I wanted to do something slightly different with the native american flute than I had in my earlier music such as Spiritlands , Desert Plateaus, Return to Spiritlands a.k.a. Ancient Canyons, Canyon Spirit and other titles.
flute music and nature sounds. It was not to be then. But that same year I met up with Will A friend of mine, Michael Hedges, had passed away in 1997. Before his passing we had talked about how acoustic guitar could work as the background instrument with my native americanAckerman.
Now I have know some amazing people in my life. I helped John Wayne build his darkroom in 1975 in Newport Beach California. I became close friends with photographer Ansel Adams and his wife Virginia. That's another story I will have to tell someday. I would add Will Ackerman, who started the Windhamhill record label, to that list. His help was generous. Both my wife's and my father had passed away with in 3 weeks of each other. It was a rough time.
Will provided much of the guidence needed to finish recording this album in 2003.
It is inspired from my own multi-cultural background and experiences. The Native American Indian culture, my family has been a part of for nearly 400 years as well as other geographic areas around the country including the Southwest, Northwest and Northeast.
The cover photo is from the Grand Tetons, Wyoming near Jenny Lake. The photo on the back, taken by me in 1967, is from Niagara Falls, New York (Grand Isalnd) where my family built the first permanent dwelling around 1838. The other photo is Joni (my wife) and I recording shoreside at Lake Powell, Arizona around 1990-92. More to come soon...

Return to: John Huling Music Official Website

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