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 Title: Arizona Released: January 1, 2013 Format: CD Single, 12” Single, Digital Download, Weekly Airplay Recorded: Three Crow Studios, Los Angeles, California Genres: Alternative Rock, Americana, Celtic Rock Length: 5:06 Label: Chaos Records Writer: Brandon Caulfield Producer: Brandon Caulfield “Arizona” is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter ‘Brandon Caulfield’, taken from his upcoming fourth studio album ‘Some Roads Lead To Nowhere’ expected to be released in early 2013. The track marks the first release of the new year as Brandon Caulfield attempts to continue on from his unexpectedly successful end to the previous year, in particular the surprising chart success which came in the form of three number one singles, ‘The Ballad Of A Vagabond (feat. Cristina Lake)’, ‘Wild Is The Wind (feat. Hannah Beth, Hayden and Isabel)’ and his final single of 2012 with ‘Better Days Ahead’ being added to his now ever-growing repertoire of popular songs. It follows on rather quite heavily from the Americana rooted influences of his previous studio album ‘Tales From The Heartlands’ and Caulfield pushes it even further into his work this time around on this new single, with imagery of an ‘Arizona’ as seen through the somewhat naïve eyes and the perhaps slightly glorified retrospect of the memories of the protagonist in the song’s youth. The track was written by Brandon Caulfield in late 2012, sometime around early October and is the first release from Caulfield to feature instrumental work from the little known Irish folk trio called ‘The Pilgrims Of Grá’, as well as another relatively unknown session musicians that Brandon Caulfield has associated himself with ever since breaking into the music industry back in late 2010, the supporting cast on this song includes, Flynn McCarthy (mandolin, fiddle), Dylan O’Connor (banjo, electric guitar, drums) and Alexia Quinn (cello, backing vocals) of ‘The Pilgrims Of Grá’ as well as close friend and musical confidante Sarah Jade Harrison (piano, backing vocals). The latter of the collaborators ‘Sarah Jade Harrison’ had this to say about the song, “Brandon often calls me out to Three Crow Studios when he has a new song that he’s enthusiastic about, he did it on each of his records and he did it once again this time around. It was two tracks that he wanted me to listen to, ‘Arizona’ and ‘The Fine Art Of Growin’ Old’. This was at the beginning of October, I told him that he should be focussing on ‘Heartlands’ because I felt that there was a lot more places for him to go with that record, each track was of this high standard that I just didn’t think he had in him, no offence meant to Brandon but his attention span is quite short so coming up with a record full of top quality songs was just a huge surprise for me, for some reason he was more inspired than I’ve ever seen him, I don’t think it’s able to be re-created, but he can build upon that and from the first new tracks that he performed for me for his next record it was clear that he has something else working away inside of him, he has this enthusiasm to do as much as he can for as long as he can and he’s found his niche in the industry and the type of songs that he writes best, he found his path and these new songs are proof that he’s finally got his direction, ‘Arizona’ in particular is Brandon at his best in my opinion.”This new track was written by Brandon Caulfield in October 2012 and it was then recorded sometime in November 2012 at his own recording studio, Three Crow Studios in Los Angeles, California. Like all Caulfield songs it was written, performed and produced by Brandon Caulfield with additional instrumental support from session musicians, this time including Flynn McCarthy, Dylan O’Connor, Alexia Quinn and Sarah Jade Harrison. The track will be available to purchase worldwide on January 1, 2013 via Chaos Records in various different formats including, CD Single, 12” Single, Digital Download and Weekly Airplay as Brandon Caulfield releases his first single of the New Year. BACKGROUND & SONG DESCRIPTION‘Arizona’ initially began as a bleak acoustic track tentatively titled “I Used To Be Somebody”, with its downtrodden lyrics of a man that used to feel special when he was younger and spent his time in Arizona surrounded by the sunshine and the sweet abandon of youth, it’s a man’s lament to a life that he used to live without any sort of care or worries in the world, whereas now he’s just a nobody, living in New York City with a young family, going through each day in a repetitive and dreary manner. A journey back out to Arizona makes him reminisce about the life that he used to lead and provides the main focus point of the song, although it’s drenched in a romantic imagery of a place, its underlying core is a rather emotive and bleak analysis of a human psyche, of a man who has a relatively nice and comfortable life but misses something that he no longer possess, giving the song the space to be interpreted perhaps in more of a relationship oriented view. The track mixes a personal and emotional theme with an Americana style imagery and backdrop, which has almost become the trademark songwriting style of Brandon Caulfield over the past year or more. Although the writing process for the song was relatively straightforward for Brandon Caulfield, the music tone of the song however proved to be a slightly more time consuming process as he stated in a recent interview, “I was slightly unsure of where I wanted to go with the next album, after ‘Heartlands’ and the nature of how positively people took to that record it produced a period of uncertainty and doubt with myself. I’m a solitary person, I always have been, but in recent years I’ve looked for some sort of opinion from two people, ‘JR Rhythm’ and ‘Sarah Jade’. JR’s opinion was as straightforward as ever, “Tour, tour, tour!” while Sarah thought it would have been a mistake to not continue supporting the record with singles and all of that sort of thing. I’ve never been one to sit back and try to live off of previous achievements; once it’s done then it’s done as far as I’m concerned.
So the decision that I came up with was that I’d begin writing new material for the next record while ‘Heartlands’ was still relatively hot. Of course I’d rather not just create a copy of my previous effort, I always want to attempt to find new ground so the dilemma was whether I’d do an entirely solo acoustic effort or work with musicians once more, once I had decided that I’d work with supporting musicians again then it came down to the general sound and tone of what I wanted to go with for the record, of course I wanted the elements to remain in that Americana rock sort of style but I wanted to push something else into that bracket if I could, my options were to go folk, it’s a relatively popular genre right now although what they call folk music right now isn’t at all folk music, people latch onto words without understanding the deep rooted meaning but I digress. The others were country, to channel the likes of Willie Nelson, Hank Williams and Johnny Cash or to go into new territory that at that time had begun to really influence me which was Celtic music.
I began learning more about my Irish roots back in June 2012 and started to delve into that world. A trip to Dublin where I met distant relatives was an eye-opener for me and the culture just drew me in from the very beginning, and delving into the traditions and history of Celtic music made me more eager to explore these avenues which is what I finally decided on.
I spent time watching a number of Irish musicians performing during a trip to New York City in the winter and made some contacts within that Irish-American community in Manhattan, I spoke to them about the music that they perform and the meaning of the songs they were performing, some of which were hundreds of years old, I mentioned that I wanted to explore Irish roots music at some point and one of the young girls laughed at me and said “You can’t do that on your own” she said that I should find myself a good band that knows how to really let loose and for the next few weeks my mind raced at the potential and the possibilities.
I spent a three day weekend in Ireland with Hannah and while there we came across a trio of folk musicians, real folk musicians performing in the center of town, they performed a Blind Alfred Reed cover and a couple of songs made famous by The Weavers, the enthusiasm of the music that they were playing was just staggering to me, it was sheer joy for the trio despite the bleak weather and it was exactly the sort of thing that I was looking for. When myself and Hannah returned home, I made a call to the young Irish woman I had met in Manhattan and she made a couple of enquiries to her buddies in Ireland, they managed to find the folk trio and after a few weeks we finally made contact with them, I was able to convince them to come out to Los Angeles and sent them tickets and within a week they were over here and in the studio performing on a couple of tracks initially which then grew into them performing on everything that I had written for my next record, within four weeks of seeing them, they had become my supporting band.”The song begins with a screeching harmonica wail provided by Brandon Caulfield, then quickly accompanied by the similarly high pitched but slightly more aristocratic sounding element of the cello provided by Alexia Quinn, it’s hauntingly beautiful strings being driven from right to left to create an empowering feeling to the song, the cello continues to echo out while the harmonica has faded out, instead replaced by the raspy rock vocals of Brandon, “I’m heading through Phoenix with the sun beating down/The sun’s beating down/All the familiar placed that I used to know/Those placed that I used to know/But I see that I ain’t quite the same/No, I ain’t quite the same/Only my name/It’s the only thing that remains/Only thing that remains.”, a slight instrumental break comes as a lead guitar riff by Brandon Caulfield, jangly piano playing by Sarah Jade Harrison and the energetic and rhythmic sounds of a fiddle and a banjo provided by Flynn McCarthy and Dylan O’Connor respectively give the song the enthusiastic musical fusion that Brandon was looking for. As the chorus of the song arrives, the instrumental dominance is a combination between the lead guitar playing of Brandon and the screeching of the fiddle by Flynn McCarthy as well as a beautiful female backing vocal provided by Alexia Quinn as she gives a feminine sort of echo to Brandon’s rock oriented vocal delivery as sings, “It’s been a long time away from here/I’ve changed a lot along the way/I’ve got a job and a family in New York City/The simple life is safe and pretty/But back in Arizona/I used to be somebody/Back in Arizona/I used to be somebody.” and the chorus makes way for another verse throughout the song, the twanging sound of a banjo provided by Dylan O’Connor replaces the lead guitar riff from Brandon as he bellows out the next lines of the song in a raspy wail, “I head into a forest and carve my name into a tree/It’s the only way anybody’s gonna remember me/I threw it all away, everything I had/For a life of simple pleasures, but I ain’t ever felt so sad/Because my memories, they come back/When I step into this city that used to be familiar to me/I look down into the canyon and it’s tempting me/I could end it all/It only takes the slightest push/To make a grown man fall.” and as an instrumental breakdown comes back into the picture, Brandon holds a harmonica close to his lips and lets the screeching wail push forward towards the final chorus of the song. LIVE PERFORMANCE
BRANDON CAULFIELD - LIVE ON LETTERMAN
Debut performance of ‘Arizona’ Introduction: Our final guest of the year is a singer-songwriter who had just about the biggest year of his career in 2012, with three number one singles and an album that was praised by critics from all corners of the entertainment industry, with Max-Volume magazine placing him at number six in their artist of the year countdown and Culture Uncut giving his record, ‘Tales From The Heartlands’ a top ten position on their chart. Tonight performing his upcoming new single ‘Arizona’, ladies and gentlemen please welcome Brandon Caulfield and ‘The Pilgrims Of Grá’.  The camera pans around from the desk to the studio floor where Brandon Caulfield is stood center stage with an electric guitar draped over his shoulder, behind him is his supporting band ‘The Pilgrims Of Grá’ which is made up of three musicians with Flynn McCarthy and Dylan O’Connor standing to the left and Alexia Quinn standing to the right behind the Americana musician. As the lights hit the stage, Brandon brings a silver harmonica up towards his mouth and presses his lips against it which gives off a screeching wail and then the beautifully emotive sounds of the cello strings provided by Alexia Quinn give the song it’s introductory instrumental, as Brandon finishes blowing powerfully into the harmonica he places his right hand onto the microphone stand and tilts it towards him and steps forward slightly and begins to sing into the microphone with a raspy rock vocal; “I’m heading through Phoenix with the sun beating down/The sun’s beating down
All the familiar places that I used to know/Those places that I used to know
But I see that I ain’t quite the same/No, I ain’t quite the same
Only my name/It’s the only thing that remains
Only thing that remains
The rivers draw me in to the beauty of the sea/To the beauty of the sea
The mountain peak above is calling out to me/It’s calling out to me
It’s sayin’ what have you become/Yeah, what have you become
Don’t turn back and run/Oh, don’t turn back and run”As Brandon finishes singing the opening two verses amidst the hauntingly beautiful strings of the cello and the gentle backing guitar playing from McCarthy and O’Connor an instrumental break in the song gives the opportunity for the focus of the performance to shift slightly more towards the instrumental performance, Brandon strikes down on the strings of his electric guitar in an aggressive and powerful fashion while Flynn McCarthy brings his hands back and forth repetitively against the strings of the fiddle which rests perfectly underneath his chin as Dylan plays his electric guitar as an accompaniment with Brandon’s guitar playing, giving all musicians onstage a chance to shine and show off their individual abilities while still managing to come together to create a specific piece of music. As the instrumental break makes way to the halfway point of the song, Brandon steps forward to the microphone and bellows out the choruses lyrics of nostalgia and sadness; “It’s been a long time away from here/I’ve changed a lot along the way
I’ve got a job and a family in New York City/The simple life is safe and pretty
But back in Arizona/I used to be somebody
Back in Arizona/I used to be somebody
I head into a forest and carve my name into a tree/I carve my name into a tree
It’s the only way anybody’s gonna remember me/Nobody’s gonna remember me
I threw it all away, everything I had/Everything I had
For a life of simple pleasures, but I ain’t ever felt so sad/I ain’t ever felt so sad
Because my memories, they come back/When I step into this city that used to be familiar to me
I look down into the canyon and it’s tempting me/Yeah, it’s tempting me
I could end it all/It only takes the slightest push
To make a grown man fall”Another instrumental breakdown takes over the song once more, this time for a brief twenty second period as each musician continues to perform their individual instruments to a high standard, Brandon picks up the harmonica once again and blows into it with force as it wails into the closing stages of the song, creating a haunting echo-like effect in the acoustic setting of the television studio, and as the instruments all suddenly settle to a slightly tender breakdown in the song it gives Brandon an opportunity to close out the performance with another rock vocal delivery of this new song’s chorus, which he does once again; “It’s been a long time away from here/I’ve changed a lot along the way
I’ve got a job and a family in New York City/But the simple life is too safe and pretty
But back in Arizona/Memories rush back to me
Back in Arizona/I used to be somebody
Back in Arizona/I used to be somebody”
LYRICSKey – Bold = Harmonies “I’m heading through Phoenix with the sun beating down
The sun’s beating down
All the familiar places that I used to know
Those places that I used to know
But I see that I ain’t quite the same
No, I ain’t quite the same
Only my name
It’s the only thing that remains
Only thing that remains
The rivers draw me in to the beauty of the sea
To the beauty of the sea
The mountain peak above is calling out to me
It’s calling out to me
It’s sayin’ what have you become
Yeah, what have you become
Don’t turn back and run
Oh, don’t turn back and run
It’s been a long time away from here
I’ve changed a lot along the way
I’ve got a job and a family in New York City
The simple life is safe and pretty
But back in Arizona
I used to be
Somebody
Back in Arizona
I used to be
Somebody
I head into a forest and carve my name into a tree
I carve my name into a tree
It’s the only way anybody’s gonna remember me
Nobody’s gonna remember me
I threw it all away, everything I had
Everything I had
For a life of simple pleasures, but I ain’t ever felt so sad
I ain’t ever felt so sad
Because my memories, they come back
When I step into this city that used to be familiar to me
I look down into the canyon and it’s tempting me
Yeah, it’s tempting me
I could end it all
It only takes the slightest push
To make a grown man fall
It’s been a long time away from here
I’ve changed a lot along the way
I’ve got a job and a family in New York City
But the simple life is too safe and pretty
But back in Arizona
Memories rush back to me
Back in Arizona
I used to be
Somebody
Back in Arizona
I used to be
Somebody”PERSONNELBrandon Caulfield – lead vocals, lead guitar, harmonica, lyrics, composition, production Sarah Jade Harrison – piano, backing vocals Flynn McCarthy – fiddle, backing vocals Dylan O’Connor – banjo, backing vocals, hand claps Alexia Quinn – cello, backing vocals Haley Caulfield - artwork |
