Michael Gaither

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Oh, is THIS going to be a fun one. Carolyn Sills and Gerard Egan, of the The Carolyn Sills Combo, first visited this podcast in 2013 – see “Songs and Stories #131”. We talked about their journey to Santa Cruz, how they ended up at Santa Cruz Guitar Company (who makes the last guitar you’ll ever need – honest), and the process they went through to record their first record as this full band, The Carolyn Sills Combo (a fine band that also features Jimmy Norris on drums, Charlie Wallace on pedal steel, and Sunshine Jackson on harmony vocals and percussion.)

Six years later, they’re back with their third project, and it’s something special: “Return to El Paso” is a five-song EP that takes Marty Robbin’s groundbreaking “El Paso” and builds songs around the characters in the tune, giving them each a bit of backstory and more detail. Even the getaway horse gets his/her own tune, on the frolicking “Hold Your Horses” near the end of the album. Carolyn says this all started with a single line, “I’m not crying – I just have jalapeno in my eyes,” that she kept writing in her notebooks. She finally asked herself, “who would say this?” Feleena from “El Paso” came to mind. Then she and Gerard realized there was more to it, and this collection of songs were slowly born. “Return to El Paso” is very ambitious and very cool. It works.

Tip: Once you buy the record – and you should – give a close listen to Marty Robbin’s “El Paso” and read this analysis of the story before diving into the Combo’s five songs. It’ll give you an extra appreciation for what they’ve done here. (That Feleena. She was a piece of work.) Since I talked to them about their move to Santa Cruz in our last visit, I wanted to go WAY back this time. In this outing, you’ll learn how they met in college (they were music pals for a year before the romance evolved – it’s a wonderful story) and eventually began playing music together. Check out their early band, Boss Tweed. It’s also amazing.

“Return to El Paso” is available as a download, a CD, and a vinyl release at carolynsills.com. As an added bonus, the vinyl release includes three songs from their last record, “Dime Stories Vol. 2” on side two of the record. This podcast includes “Feleena,” from “Return to El Paso” and “Buffalo Bill’s Lament,” from “Dime Stories Vol. 2” (and side two of their new vinyl record.)