American Trails magazine #10

€12. #10 | SUMMER 2021

A PIG EAR SANDWICH IN

memphis MUSICAL PORTRAITS | AMERICANA THE MUSICAL JOURNEY THROUGH THE SOUTH PART 2 | NASHVILLE, NEW ORLEANS MY AMERICA/SWEDEN | SKÅNE, SWEDEN FREEDOM RIDERS | MEMPHIS JOHANNES HUWE | PORTFOLIO

UTAH

green river

SURROUNDED BY NATIONAL PARKS, THE PEOPLE IN GREEN RIVER AIM FOR SOUND TOURISM WHERE SUSTAINABILITY COMES FIRST. SMALL TOWN AMERICA STILL HAS ITS CHARM, BUT YES, YOU CAN STILL GET 1

TRAILS A CRAFT BEER AND AAMERICAN MOCHA LATTE IN GREEN RIVER. SUMMER | 2021

Get your kicks at THE ORIGINAL

American Trails

WEB STORE PROBABLY AWESOME SINCE 2017

TO OWN A PAIR OF GROUNDSTONE SHOES Means that you, like us, think that good shoes are unique, created with an open mind and with the heart in the right place. Where small series, solid craftsmanship and top quality is just common sense.

GROUNDSTONE.SE | CONTAINER STORE | VARBERG | GROUNDSTONESHOESANDMORE

chasing freedom since day one

Visit us online

WWW.HEPCAT.SE

Visit us live

4

AMERICAN TRAILS VÅR | 2020

ST LARS VÄG 21 LUND

Bearded Men, Big Names, Pig Ear Sandwiches and a Jubileum!

F

inally! Our tenth issue is in your hands. It is no small feat to have come this far, to have published ten complete issues (Well, 20 if you count the fact that it is also published in Swedish). It has been a long journey, especially during this last year. The pandemic brought this train to an abrupt stop for publication in March of last year. But hey, we are still here. Now we are keeping our fingers crossed that as the world opens back up, we can get back on that dusty trail, see some concerts, meet you in a dive bar, hangout, and travel once more.

In the following pages we jump right back into all things Americana, but with a twist: we did some local exploring of American culture right in our own backyard. We start off this trend by travelling to meetup with some friends down in Höganäs, quite possibly the Texas of Sweden.

Here, big bearded guys are doing good things. Mats, Johan, and Mike have put Höganäs on the map with Garage Bar, Holy Smoke, and Mikes Garage. Rob and Dan from HepCat Store in Lund, Sweden were also there doing a pop-up shop and keeping things cool. The weekend writings were penned by our favorite bearded dude, Erek Bell—a full-blooded Midwestern transplant who has wound up in southern Sweden.

Another beard—Johannes Huwe. We have been long time lurkers and followers of his Instagram and absolutely love his pictures. The feelings were mutual as it turns out, and we are exalted to have him on board. Check out his fantastic pictures in the Portfolio on page 126. Yet another favorite bearded photographer and americana enthusiast is Peter Eriksson. Muse over his music portraits on page 64. This will have to tie us over in Sweden until the big STHLM Americana music festival kicks off in June 2022.

Not just the men, but this issue is jam packed with strong women too. Musicians like Nicki Bluhm and Tristen Gaspadarek, who have Nashville as a base during their tours. Read more about them in Donivan Berubes’ field report from the musical hearth of the South. Our UK editor and prize-winning photographer Simon Urwin has also been travelling around in the Deep South. Check out his road trip along the Mississippi River, his discovery of pig ear sandwiches in Memphis, and his moment with equal rights activists in Jackson, Mississippi.

Some strong names to boot in this issue too, how about this for a lineup: Sonny Boy Williamson, Dub Rogers, Reverend Nat, Geno Lee, Juan ‘’Big John’’ Mora, Swamp Dogg, and Michael Paradise. Lots of interesting people in this issue, and after years on the road meeting all sorts of folk, Larsson is starting to feel a bit humbled by it all.

All in all, this is somewhat of a new start. A fresh slate. Big things have small beginnings. We are looking into more and more ways of getting out and seeing you all, meeting you, and hearing your stories—not just online or in the magazine, but in real life. Stay tuned and keep yourself in the loop by subscribing to our newsletter. You can do so via americantrailsmag.com or by sending us a mail at info@amtrailsmag.com Safe travels! Jonas Larsson | Editor-in-Chief P.S. We just must mention that we won the Publishing Prize again this Fall—third year in a row, a threepeat! Yea, we are pretty proud of that.

5

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Beer, booze & burgers www.garagebar.se

PHOTO: MATTIAS LUNDBLAD

American Trails EXPLORE WITH US

MAGAZINE

American Trails Magazine is a quarterly publication and an online community, which focuses on people, places, and passions. We distribute the Swedish edition in the Nordic countries, and the international edition in the UK and the USA.

EDITORIAL JONAS LARSSON EDITOR IN CHIEF AND PUBLISHER LARSSON@AMTRAILSMAG.COM BO SANDLUND ART DIRECTOR SANDLUND@AMTRAILSMAG.COM

We do not accept responsibility for the loss of unsolicited materials. Permission is granted to quote and praise us as long as the source is identified. For permission to use any of our photos or stories, please contact the editors.

EREK BELL EDITOR/TRANSLATOR BELL@AMTRAILSMAG.COM JOHAN LETH PROJECT MANAGER/EDITOR LETH@AMTRAILSMAG.COM

ISSN 2002-7842

SIMON URWIN UK EDITOR URWIN@AMTRAILSMAG.COM DONIVAN BERUBE MUSIC EDITOR INFO@AMTRAILSMAG.COM

C O LO P H O N

ANDERS BERGERSEN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER INFO@AMTRAILSMAG.COM

PAPER COVER: MUNKEN POLAR 300 G INLAY: MUNKEN POLAR 120 G

LEIF EIMAN BEER EDITOR EIMAN@AMTRAILSMAG.COM

FONTS TITLES: ACIER BAT, AW CONQUEROR DIDOT AND HEROE PRO BODY TEXT: ADOBE CASLON PRO 10/12 QUOTES: GOTHAM BOLD CAPTIONS: MUSEO SLAB 700

ADVERTISING AND SPONSORSHIPS JONAS LARSSON LARSSON@AMTRAILSMAG.COM TEL: +46 70 76 01 720

PRINT OFFSET PRINTING HOUSE KOPA

OFFICE PAPER HEART PUBLISHING TUNSTAVÄGEN 14, S-793 40 INSJÖN, SWEDEN

A M E R I CA N T RA I L SM AG.COM 7

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Portland

Seattle

WE DRINK STRONG CIDERS WITH THE REVERED NAT AND MEET REX THE WIENER DOG. PAGE 94.

IN THE HISTORICALLY SCANDINAVIAN NEIGHBORHOOD OF BALLARD, WE TALK WITH MATT POLLITZ AT X-RAY AUTO, A MECHANIC WHO OF COURSE SPECIALIZES IN FIXING UP VOLVOS. PAGE 20.

Venice beach

CANAL PLACES BE AS CHARMING AS VENICE? WE TAKE A DIVE INTO THE ECLECTIC AND BOHEMIAN SIDE OF THE CITY OF ANGELS TO FIND OUT. PAGE 22.

Arizona

WIG WAM BAM! OUR NEWEST TEAM MEMBER, JOHANNES HUWE IS ALL ABOUT THE ODD AND UNUSUAL PLACES IN THE USA. CHECK OUT HIS PORTFOLIO ON PAGE 126, AND KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR MORE FROM HIM IN THE FUTURE. 8

San Antonio

JIM POTEET IS AN ARCHITECT WHO CAN’T BE CONTAINED. HIS COMMITMENT TO RECYCLING IS EVIDENT IN HIS REPURPOSED CONTAINER-HOUSES OUT IN THE BOILING TEXAS SUN, WHICH ARE MADE ENTIRELY FROM RECYCLED AMERICAN TRAILS MATERIALS. PAGE 158.

VÅR | 2020

Green River , Utah

HIKING, BOULDERING, KAYAKING, NO CROWDS? GREEN RIVER IS YOUR DESTINATION IN SOUTHERN UTAH. WE LOVE SMALL TOWN AMERICA–RURAL AND PROUD! PAGE 48.

Missouri

WE CANNONBALL RIGHT INTO THIS ONE, NO DIVING EVEN THOUGH IT IS A DIVE BAR. WELCOME TO CBGB - NO NOT THAT ONE IN NEW YORK. THIS CBGB GOT ITS NAME FROM THE INITIALS OF THE OWNER. BARKEEP? A BEER PLEASE! PAGE 142.

Tennessee

PIG EAR SANDWICHES IN MEMPHIS AND COUNTRY GALS IN NASHVILLE, YEP SOUNDS ABOUT RIGHT! THIS IS A STATE WE ARE REALLY EXCITED ABOUT, THE CURIOSITY IS PEAKED AND OUR ATTENTION HAS BEEN GRABBED. PAGE 144.

Alabama

BLM! YES, ABSOLUTELY. IN MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA, DEEP IN THE HEART OF THE SOUTH, A NATIONAL MONUMENT FOR PEACE AND EQUALITY HAS OPENED UP ITS DOORS. PAGE 42.

Mississippi

OUR UK EDITOR SIMON URWIN HAS TRAVELLED ALONG ROUTE 61, FOLLOWING THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER’S MEANDER THROUGH THE STATE. SIDAN 80.

New Orleans

FOR THOSE WHO HAVE READ THE LAST ISSUE, HERE COMES THE FOLLOW UP OF ROBERT AND DONIVANS’ MUSICAL ROAD TRIP IN THE SOUTH. PAGE 24.

9

AMERICAN TRAILS VÅR | 2020

GREETINGS FROM TAMPA, FLORIDA

Distribution in Sweden: Great Brands AB. Consumer service: 0513-22606, www.greatbrands.se

- NOW AVAILABLE IN SWEDEN!

Bright berry, lime leaf and tangerine aromas and flavors imparted by exclusive use of Citra hops, balanced by an assertive bitterness and moderate breadiness.

10

AMERICAN TRAILS VÅR | 2020

5,5% 355ml

5. LEADERS / ART STORE & THE FUTURE

80. ROUTE 61 / TENNESSEE

There you go gang! The tenth issue, right in your hands Number ten, now that is something worth celebrating, so enjoy an issue jam-packed with more photos than ever.

Forget Route 66, this is the real deal. The route winds its way along the Mississippi’s banks, through historic landscapes with music at every turn.

8. THE MAP

94. CIDER HOUSE RULES | PORTLAND, OREGON

Fewer states than we normally visit, but only because of the pandemic—but good stuff nonetheless, we promise!

Rev. Nat’s hard ciders are one of our favorite way to consume alcohol, I mean apples. And hallelujah, the pastor has me seeing the lights!

13. TEAM MEMBERS

Say hello to four lovely team members.

104. THIS IS MY AMERICA / HÖGANÄS, SKÅNE

Editor Erek Bell digs deep where he stands, and finds the dirt clinging to his Midwestern Roots—in Skåne

17. MAGNOLIA CAFÉ | AUSTIN, TEXAS

They are open 24/8—or rather 8AM to 10PM… At Magnolia, there’s always good comfort food, amazing atmosphere and that sign—that sign!

122. THE FREEDOM RIDERS / MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

18. CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL | SOUTH DAKOTA

The world’s largest monument under construction, carved directly from and into the Black Hills in South Dakota.

There’s still a bit left to be done, but when its finally finished it will overtake Mount Rushmore in size.

20. ROLLING ALONG / SEATTLE

Matte is the paint on these old Volvos, but Matt is the guy who fixes them up.

Take a walk through the Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, Mississippi, and you’ll come across one of the movement’s youngest ever Freedom Riders: Hezekiah Watkins.

126. PORTFOLIO/JOHANNES HUWE

We are so pumped to have Johannes onboard. We have followed him for a long time on Instagram, liking his captivating photos. Everything from the forgotten desert to the cars we fell in love with as kids. More of Mr. Huwe to come folks 142. TO DIVE FOR / CBGB MISSOURI

Hobo, hippie or hipster, everyone vibes in the beautiful Venice Beach in the city of angels.

Cash is still king here. Here at this locals joint in St. Louis, you are always welcome to sit yourself down at the bar, and start working on your ‘regulars’ status.

24. GO SOUTH! / NASHVILLE & NEW ORLEANS

144. PIGS EAR SANDWICH / MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

Donivan and Robert couldn’t squeeze in all of their southern stories in the last issue, so here comes the rest— more music and beautiful people.

Our UK Editor, Simon Urwin, vists Gino Lee and tastes his legendary Pig Ear Sandwich. True Southern food.

42. BLACK LIVES MATTER | MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA

Dibs on that name if it ever open up! Donivan Berube tells the story about the mythical and fascinating soul singer with the great album covers.

22. GOOD VIBES IN VENICE/ VENICE CALIFORNIA

152. FORGOTTEN CLASSICS / SWAMP DOGG

In the Deep South, a memory to the pain and suffering of African Americans has been built. The beautiful sculptures remind us to never forget the atrocities that happened.

48. RURAL AND PROUD / GREEN RIVER, UTAH

The town is trying its best to balance tourism while keeping its secrets.

Architect Jim Poteet is a chatter box. His container homes, can’t be boxed in.

160. STILL HOLDING STRONG / VENICE, CALIFORNIA

The Stronghold is the brand that Charlie Chaplin had on when he climbed through the cogs, or the threads sported by all the bad boys in the early Hollywood movies. Now, the brand is back and stronger than ever.

64. MUSICAL MELANCHOLIA / MUSIC PORTRAITS

Peter Eriksson is a photographer who has a deep interest in Americana music and portrait photography. Take a look at his beautiful and intimate portraits of some of the best artists in the genre.

158. CONTAINMENT / SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

11

AMERICAN TRAILS VÅR | 2020

PHOTO: JONAS LARSSON

Contents

WE HOPE YOU’LL Love OUR STORE JUST as much as you Love THAT WEIRD COUSIN YOU ONLY VISIT EVERY OTHER YEAR.

We’re in the business of high quality goods and denim. That means you’ll leave our store with products from brands that share our philosophy about great sustainability, quality and design. It also means the stuff you buy last so long you’ll probably won’t come back for more in a while. All according to our idea of great goods.

Welcome!

G OT E B O R G M A N U FA K T U R . S E - T R E D J E L A N G GATA N 3

a tribe called

Contributors

In this issue we present four new fantastic team members. Interested in joining the ranks? Send a line to info@amtrailsmag.com We are always interested in meeting new people and hearing their ideas.

TANJA SCHULT, STOCKHOLM

Tanja is an associate professor and senior lecturer in Art History at Stockholm University. One of her research interests is memorials, in all senses of the word. Whether it be something monumental like in Montgomery, or something unseen but rather heard, like in the audio collage Audioweg Gusen. In this issue you can read about The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which Tanja visited for American Trails.

JOHANNES HUWE, WUNSTORF

Johannes is a German photographer who is passionate about two things: analog photography and desert landscapes along the west coast of America. Well, three things actually, can't forget that he is cruising through said landscapes in his Porsche 911 from 1975. We welcome the prize winning Americana Photographer here to American Trails. See more: Instagram: @americana.mag, @johanneshuwe, johanneshuwe.com PETER ERIKSSON, STOCKHOLM

Peter has worked with photography in some form or another for the last 25 years, splitting it up between his own projects, freelance work, and teaching. Besides great photography, music is a massive source of inspiration, and especially the introverted Americana in minor, the melancholic guys in flannel shirts. In this issue you get a look at his portraits of musicians.

Glitter and Doom in front of the camera, Tom Waits!

10 000 + FOLLOWERS

CAN'T BE WRONG!

DEAN KLINKENBERG, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

Dean Klinkenberg, the Mississippi Valley Traveler, writes about the history and culture of places along the Mississippi River. He has published six travel guides for different parts of the Mississippi Valley, as well as three Frank Dodge mysteries set in places along the river. His work has also appeared in publications such as Smithsonian Magazine, The National, and GoNomad. com. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri.

FOLLOW US ON

SOCIAL MEDIA @AMERICANTRAILSMAG

DO YOU WANT YOUR OWN COPY? VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR BACK ISSUES, MERCH AND ART*!

AMERICANTRAILSMAG.COM *WE CURRENTLY ONLY SHIP OUR ART WITHIN SWEDEN.

FOLLOW THE BOT (SCAN THE QR-CODE) TO AN ETERNAL READING EXPERICENCE A.K.A. OUR FAVOURITE SHOP!

14

AMERICAN TRAILS VÅR | 2020

COOLEST BOOTS STORE IN EUROPE SINCE 1974

Danner Mountain

Sendra 10604

Sendra Evo Tang

Danner Mountain

Sendra City

Sendra Pull Oil

Grinders Safety

Sendra Driver

Solovair Hiker

Solovair Oxblood

Solovair Monkey

Solovair Brogue

SKO-UNO.COM GAMLA BROGATAN 34, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

STOCKHOLM'S COOLEST

AND NICEST JEANS STORE

JEANS-UNO.COM GAMLA BROGATAN 32, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

Open 24/8

MAGNOLIA CAFÉ | AUSTIN, TEXAS WORDS AND PHOTO BY JONAS LARSSON

Café Magnolia on South Congress Avenue in Austin is open 24 hours a day, 8 days a week. At least according to their homepage. Rumor has it that the Owner, Ken Cole, lost the keys awhile back and just decided to not lock up the place. Reality is that they keep their business hours 8Am to 10PM. Guess he finally found those keys! Regardless, when you find yourself hungry, they will be sure to set you up with just the right comfort foods: omelettes, tex-mex, salads, and more. But the food is secondary here. The real reason for a visit is that sweet Diner vibe. It is the atmosphere, the neon signs, that relaxed don’t care if you are hungover or a17 family having breakfast kind of beauty that we love.

AMERICAN TRAILS

1920 SOUTH CONGRESS AUSTIN, TEXAS | MAGNOLIACAFEAUSTIN.COM VÅR |AVENUE, 2020

18

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

His Horse Is Crazy!

CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL | SOUTH DAKOTA WORDS BY JONAS LARSSON | PHOTO BY ANDERS BERGERSEN

Crazy Horse, or Thašúnke Witkó by name, was one of the major Lakota leaders and warriors during the Great Sioux War of 1876-77. Unafraid, he led a full-frontal attack against General Custer’s forces at the battle of Little Big Horn. He later died during an escape attempt after he and his warriors had surrendered prisoner to soldiers in Nebraska.

Not too long ago, a gigantic memorial began construction to honor his memory in South Dakota, which will eventually be bigger than the neighboring Presidential memorial of Mount Rushmore. ‘Crazy Horse’ is actually a bad translation, a corruption of his real name, which would in fact be more along the lines of, ‘His Horse Is Crazy’.

19 AMERICAN 12151 AVENUE OF THE CHIEFS,TRAILS CRAZY HORSE | CRAZYHORSEMEMORIAL.ORG SUMMER | 2021

20

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Rolling Along X-RAY AUTO | BALLARD, SEATTLE WORDS AND PHOTO BY JONAS LARSSON

The first time I met Matt Pollitz he had his Volvo workshop in an old corrugated metal shed down by the fishing boats, and just a bit further down on Market Street in Ballard, Seattle.

Now, the newly built National Nordic Museum stands there. Matt played with the idea that he could somehow incorporate his workshop into being part of the museum, which would seem so natural and of course super cool, but it never materialized.

But despite that, I was so excited to see that he relocated to another part of Ballard to keep at it. After all, a workshop for old Volvos should absolutely be here in Ballard, which historically, is rich in Nordic heritage. Interestingly enough, most of the cars are relatively rust free, sure it rains a lot out here but snow is rarer, and without snow there is no rust-inducing salt on the roads to worry about, so really, moss is more of a problem than rust. Not only is he restoring these old beauties, he is also renovating and converting some of them with electric motors. The best of both worlds, even though a B18 engine will always be a B18 engine.

1122 NW 46TH ST, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON | XRAYAUTOMOTIVE.COM

21

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

22

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Vivacious Venice

VENICE | LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA WORDS AND PHOTO BY JONAS LARSSON

The beachfront neighborhood of Venice in Los Angeles is a popular place to live, known for its bohemian spirit and lifestyle. But like many parts of the city, Venice too is now becoming increasingly more expensive to live in, meaning the artists and creative souls who helped create this atmosphere are having to seek residence elsewhere in the city. That aside, Venice still manages to keep its brilliant charm. Rent a bike and slowly cruise down the palm-lined streets, take a coffee or a glass of wine at one of the many bars, or hit the sand and stroll down the beach taking in the beautiful canals. What was once a marsh back in the early 1900s, Venice sprung into existence from the dreams of the tobacco tycoon Abbot Kinney, who decided that this was the ideal location to build a resort. The Venice of Italy served as inspiration, complete with its system of canals, parks, and renaissance architecture. The official inauguration of Venice Beach was on the 4th of July 1905, and it was a massive success. Kinney would go on to build piers, boardwalks, restaurants, and pools to enhance the vehement Venetian lifestyle. Towards the end of the 1920s, the canals were filled in and cemented over to make room for the evermore dominating presence of the car in the urban space. During the 50s and 60s, Venice became an enclave for beatniks, hippies, creatives, artists, and musicians with the likes of Jim Morrison of the Doors. Over time though, Venice became a bit derelict, run down, not really the type of place many would want to live in. Though today, many of the buildings, boardwalks, and canals are now restored to their former glory.

THE RHYTHM OF

THE SOUTH II NASHVILLE | NEW ORLEANS

Our music editor Donivan Berube and the brilliant photographer Robert Lindholm continues on their road trip through the historic recording studios and musical tool sheds of Atlanta, Nashville and New Orleans in search of residence in Southern rhythm. Here´s part two of their story.

C

WORDS BY DONIVAN BERUBE | PHOTOS BY ROBERT LINDHOLM

ountry rock singer Nicki Bluhm arrived at Carter Vintage just before sundown. Like almost every other musician who either lives in Nashville or tours through regularly, she’s bought and sold guitars here too. Today a vintage Gibson acoustic catches her eye.

Formerly a lifelong native of the San Francisco Bay area, Bluhm’s move to Nashville three years ago encapsulated every life change imaginable: a new band, a new city, and new relationships, having split with her husband and longtime musical collaborator. Leaving the only hometown she’d ever known has made for an entirely unfamiliar yet

welcome new pattern in music making, finding songwriting partners who helped craft her newest solo record, To Rise You Gotta Fall. The album is buried in this journey, rife with the scars of love, loss, and starting all over again.

“I was a total child of the radio.” She described turning dials and searching out every female soul band she could find, from the early days of Motown vocal groups all the way up to the superstars of the 80’s & 90’s such as Salt & Pepa, TLC, and Whitney Houston. We shot pool at the deep end of the Lakeside Lounge in Nashville’s Five Points neighborhood, and she seemed to know every last line to each song that came on overhead. “Maybe so,” she admitted, humming along to ZZ Top. “But I can never remember what the song is or who it’s by.”

24 24

AMERICAN AMERICAN TRAILS TRAILS SUMMER SUMMER || 2021 2021

25

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Tristen Gaspadarek splits time between music and his vintage store, Anaconda Vintage.

“Before moving here, I was told that the people are the beauty of this city,” she beamed, singing the praises of Nashville’s deep and amalgamated music scene. “There are so many excellent songwriters here. Everyone here is so talented.” It would seem that Bluhm’s bar for collaborators has been raised. And while she may not feel entirely at home in Nashville just yet, she’s putting the work in to get there. “That’s what I did all that time in San Francisco,” she leveled. “And now I’m doing it here.” She looked like she’d lived here all her life, smiling wide in a bohemian knitted sweater and desert landscape bolo tie, dancing her way between the bar and the pool table with a glass of red wine.

With her roots set and an all-new band at bat, Bluhm has been touring extensively and with a brazen, exciting willingness to play anywhere. One week she’s in the Mexican Riviera for the Widespread Panic festival, the next she’s at Dee’s Lounge, a classic country dive bar just north of Nashville. “I just wanted a clean slate,” she explained.

“To play music for fun and to love doing it.”

Her optimistic approach doesn’t stop there with the music, but seems to apply across all aspects of her life. It’s an innate ability to forgive and forget, to remember the good times without losing out to their union with the bad. She seems to count her successes as an aside to the hardships, refusing to let one be drowned by the other.

There is nothing accusatory or demeaning about her tales of heartbreak, but rather the most authentic retelling of life’s throes that everyone wishes for in a country record.

Bluhm’s affinity for Nashville’s songwriting scene is shared by another transplant-turned-local, indie s­ ongwriter 26

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

27

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Nicki Bluhm, originally from San Francisco, has found her home in Nashville

28

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

29

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Tristen’s music is grounded in the acoustic musical tradition, but on the outside, it is definitely a country-punk kind of album.

WITH HER ROOTS SET AND AN ALL-NEW BAND AT BAT, BLUHM HAS BEEN TOURING EXTENSIVELY AND WITH A BRAZEN, EXCITING WILLINGNESS TO PLAY ANYWHERE. ONE WEEK SHE’S IN THE MEXICAN RIVIERA FOR THE WIDESPREAD PANIC FESTIVAL, THE NEXT SHE’S AT DEE’S LOUNGE, A CLASSIC COUNTRY DIVE BAR JUST NORTH OF NASHVILLE.

Tristen Gaspadarek. She splits her time between making music and running Anaconda Vintage, a glowing fashion boutique nestled just under the infamous Grimey’s record store in the East Nashville neighborhood. It’s like stepping into a lava lamp fever dream filled with chic threads and stylish accessories. The store was flooded with shoppers throughout our visit, which Tristen said is the way business has been since day one.

Between herself, her sister, and their 11 vendors, everyone involved is only responsible for working one shift per week at the shop. “It allows me to tour without the usual bartending and service-industry jobs that musicians always have to work,” she said with relief. Although, ownership can come with its fair share of setbacks too. She likened running the shop to working in an ice cream parlor: “After a while you get sick of all the clothes and prefer to just dress plainly all the time.” The music playing was an eclectic mix of outlaw country, vintage jazz, and acoustic soul from Cat Stevens’ “Mona Bone Jakon” to Bob Dylan’s “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” and William De Vaughan’s “Be Thankful for What You’ve Got (Diamonds In the Back).”

Her music is founded in acoustic songwriting at its core, but plays more like a country punk album strung out beneath a disco ball. On “Dream Within a Dream,”

released last year on Third Man Records, she spins Edgar Allen Poe’s words into something like a late-night mad dash across a psychedelic cemetery. Tristen’s most recent release is a captivating rendition of Joni Mitchell’s 1971 breakup ballad “A Case of You,” crooning: “I could drink a case of you darling, and I would still be on my feet. If you want me, I’ll be at the bar.”

ALGIERS FOLK ART ZONE & BLUES MUSEUM

Down the street in Algiers Point, folk artist Charles Gillam has turned his home studio into something of a living environmental site and tribute to New Orleans artists and blues heroes. Only a stone’s throw from the Mississippi River, the Folk Art Zone & Blues Museum is a compact and colorful exposé of the otherwise underground, do-ityourself folk art scene, with outdoor sculptures and murals, priceless paintings, and an annual music festival.

While growing up in the 9th Ward, Gillam explored plenty of careers outside of the arts, like managing an antique store and working as a magician. “After Katrina, I wanted to bring a sense of humanity back to New Orleans,” he reflects. “Art can be soothing. I want people to touch the artwork and feel the energy inside of it.” Busts of his favorite musicians like Professor Longhair and “the black Liberace” James Booker are carved out of old 30

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

31

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

“To play music for fun and to love doing it.” is Nicki Bluhm's motto.

Charles Gillam runs Algiers Folk Art Zone & Blues Museum right on the banks of the Mississippi River in the French Quarter.

32

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Before Charles got Algers up and running, he worked as a magician.

WHILE GROWING UP IN THE 9TH WARD, GILLAM EXPLORED PLENTY OF CAREERS OUTSIDE OF THE ARTS, LIKE MANAGING AN ANTIQUE STORE AND WORKING AS A MAGICIAN.

bowling pins, plastered wine bottles, pieces of driftwood, and mounds of foam insulation spray. The “Popeye’s Fried Chicken Fountain” is every bit as central as a massive naval base siren.

Gillam welcomes art lovers, collectors, and tourists from all over the globe into his house for an up-close look at what’s become one of Algiers Point’s defining legacies. Tours are offered on an appointment-only basis, led

by Gillam himself, smiling effervescently the entire time.

Frenchmen Street district on the outskirts of the French Quarter, its creaking wooden floors and an entire streetside of warm windows nest a welcome room to while away an afternoon to the soundtrack of local blues, funk, cajun, and zydeco music. When Trombone Shorty plays in-store concerts here, the line spills out the door and into the street. “He was just here last week filming a music video,” said owner Barry Smith.

When faced with not only the Katrina tragedy but also the decades-long decline in vinyl record sales, their foremost medium, Smith responded as if keeping the business afloat was never an issue. “We always specialized in the kind of local and regional music from New Orleans,” he explained. “You can’t get that stuff just anywhere.” I

THE LOUISIANA MUSIC FACTORY WITH BARRY SMITH

Despite a handful of location changes, the Louisiana Music Factory has retained every ounce of its character in nearly 30 years of operation. Now located in the 33

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

The Louisiana Music Facory, owned by Barry Smith The shop is a mix of boutique, temple, and museum—very NOLA.

34

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Many music nerds look in the boutique on Frenchmen Street, right at the edge of the French Quarter.

brought a rare Exuma record up to the counter, to which Smith tilted his head and looked the cover over. “Where did you find this?” he asked. “Do you know where this guy is? He used to play in-stores here and consign his CDs, but I haven’t seen him since Katrina.”

The store lives and breathes as something between a museum and a shrine to the city’s sensational history, wherein its sonic exhibits can be heard, touched, and brought home to keep.

College of Music in Boston. “They have everything you could ever need there,” he raved. “Floor-to-ceiling cabinets with two-each of anything. It’s the tallest building in south Boston now.” While not discounting the technical prowess unlocked by such schooling, he prefers a more authentic avenue for learning. “They say if you graduate, you aren’t good enough,” Lyle laughed. “I wish I would’ve gone to New School in New York City so I could’ve dropped out sooner.” He is calm but brimming with ambition. “In New York, you can find all that in the streets. That was my backup plan.”

Lyle toured for over a year with the Baton Rouge indie rock band Givers. When Solange called and said to clear his calendar for the year and come out for a month of rehearsals, he signed up ready and willing. Nowadays he takes shows as they come, with regular trips to ­Los ­Angeles and

MAN RAY RECORDS W / JOE LYLE ON DRUMS

“Not many tourists make it up there,” said Joe Lyle on the Maple Leaf residency. “But there was a time when Rebirth was playing on the street corner too.”

A jazz drummer by trade, Lyle left his home town of Baton Rouge to spend three years at the esteemed Berklee 35

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

The jazz drummer Joe Lyle runs Man Ray Records, located in the French Quarters, the heart of New Orleans.

36

AMERICAN TRAILS VÅR | 2020

37

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

38

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

39

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Joe Lyle provides for himself with all manners of music related things, which when combined, give him a great style.

Joe felt that in the beginning it was hard to move some of the records. “But I saw pretty quickly that things were on the up and up.”

A JAZZ DRUMMER BY TRADE, LYLE LEFT HIS HOME TOWN OF BATON ROUGE TO SPEND THREE YEARS AT THE ESTEEMED BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC IN BOSTON.

New York while running Man Ray Records on the third floor of a bookstore in the heart of the French Quarter.

Although packed with character, Man Ray is a far cry removed from the city’s trendy record stores and music sheds. It is a place of mind to get lost in, to fall in love with. Heaving boxes of records are piled up in a back room. Shelving bows beneath the weight of unsifted musical gems. Even the antique elevator lift is loaded with crates full of vinyl. “I know there’s good stuff in there, but I haven’t had the time to sort them yet,” he said, running his fingers through a box of choice cuts by Prince, the Rolling Stones, and Frank Zappa. It’s the same lot from which he pulled a signed Irma Thomas LP, alongside test pressings and other rarities. “I don’t think the guy even knew what he had in there, and neither did I,” he said.

Man Ray feels less like a place where people shop, and more like a studio that’s well cared for and lived in.

Opening the store with his own private collection, Lyle admitted that it was hard at first to let some of his prized pieces go. “But I found that a lot of it comes back,” he countered. “And it comes back with even more records that are much, much better.”

40

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

41

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

ALABAMA

STRANGE FRUIT THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE

The memorial´s subject is dark. It is dedicated to the victims of lynching, but has a bigger aim: the American public shall understand that the history of slavery, lynching and segregation still affects their society.

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY TANJA SCHULT

42

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

43

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

T

he National Memorial for Peace and Justice opened in Montgomery, Alabama, in April 2018. The Museum is a milestone in American memory culture. Its ambition to transform the American consciousness is clearly reflected in the memorial’s exceptional design and pedagogical concept. Next to the pavilion-structure – consisting of 805 stelae, duplicates are waiting to be claimed by the counties in which lynching’s were committed. The future dissolution of the duplicates, leading to the erection of singular memorial markers in places near and far throughout the States, is an invitation to the American nation to participate in this commemoration project.

The permanent memorial and its take-away twin anticipate a commemoration process yet to come, and envisions an altered national identity based on the acknowledgement of the history of racial violence in the US. 300 counties have already announced their interest to erect the stela that commemorates the lynching’s once committed in their communities.

perform a common commitment to remember the crimes as an important part of national identity. This unique monument concept acknowledges that no single monument alone can achieve a comprehensive change of a nation’s memory culture. Such a transformation demands action – of individuals, organizations, and governments, far beyond Alabama, a readiness to rethink established narratives and alter attitudes by erecting visible markers in public space.

The memorial in Montgomery is not the endpoint but the beginning – of necessary dialogues and confrontations of a shameful and painful past that still holds its grip on American society. Lynching took place almost all over the United States. Thus, it is only logical that a project, that demands a whole nation to come to terms with its shameful past, asks all its communities to get engaged. The monument’s double existence and the duplicate’s interactive component is therefore of utmost importance, and it is its future dispersal that is the most interesting aspect of this memorial ensemble.

SCULPTURES AROUND THE PERMANENT MEMORIAL

Several figurative sculptures accompany the main monument. The first is a vivid and dramatic interpretation of slavery, executed by Ghanaian artist Kwame Akoto-Bamfo.

Dana King’s Guided by Justice (2018) commemorates the resilience of women displayed during the 13-monthlong-Montgomery-bus-boycott in 1955-1956. The depicted represent women of different ages, the youngest pregnant, one clearly marked by age. If one joins the women, steps onto the footprints on the ground, one faces the field of stelae, and it seems as if they say: “Get this done!” Instead of being overwhelmed by despair in the face of the memory work waiting, one is energized by their determination, and encouraged to continue their non-violent struggle.

Dana King’s sculpture group ties on to the footsteps on the asphalt close to the Alabama State Capitol commemorating the 25,000 people who walked the 54-mile-long civil rights protest march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.

Hank Willis Thomas’ Raise Up can be read as a reflection of ongoing police brutality against African Americans. 10 pairs of arms grasping air. The men have closed

STRANGE FRUIT

Visitors encounter the stelae on eye level. The names of the victims are easily readable and visitors are allowed to touch them. This creates an intimate relationship with the work. In their shape, the stelae remind us of headstones – a pointed reference considering that lynching victims were rarely given a proper funeral or gravesite.

As you walk on, the floor descends, slowly the stelae rise. Some may recall Billy Holliday’s Strange Fruit from 1939, written after having seen photographs of lynching victims.

The haunting and overwhelming atmosphere of the hanging stelae reminds us that these acts of terrorism happened in the open; corpses were left to rot so that they intimidated and threatened people of color, and encouraged whites to act against them without fear of punishment.

THE TAKE AWAY TWIN

Positioned on the ground, the stelae remind us of coffins rather than headstones, but when claimed and erected in an upright position, in hundreds of counties throughout the US, these physical markers will make a statement— to 44

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

300 Counties in the US will erect identical memorial stones. May we never forget the atrocities of these lynchings.

Rosa Parks has a seat up front at the 45 National Memorial AMERICAN TRAILS For Peace and SUMMER | 2021 Justice.

Ghana artist Kwame Akoto-Bamfo’s realism interpretation on slaveryit’s moving, it’s powerful.

Highlighted means a word change, please replace the word in the text to the highlighted word here in this edits guide

46

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Nothing in these works leaves a visitor untouched, unmoved.

HANK WILLIS THOMAS’ RAISE UP CAN BE READ AS A REFLECTION OF ONGOING POLICE BRUTALITY AGAINST AFRICAN AMERICANS. 10 PAIRS OF ARMS GRASPING AIR. THE MEN HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES. SOME OF THE HEADS ARE SUNKEN INTO THE CONCRETE WALL, EXPRESSING THE FAINTNESS ESPECIALLY BLACK MEN ARE EXPOSED TO IN POLICE CONTROLS AND THE ARBITRARINESS OF THE JURIDICAL SYSTEM.

their eyes. Some of the heads are sunken into the concrete wall, expressing the faintness especially black men are exposed to in police controls and the arbitrariness of the juridical system. Against the city’s silhouette with its complex history and being the last sculpture of this monument landscape, the title Raise Up seems to turn directly to appeal to the visitors to continue the struggle for justice.

1989, Stevenson founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit law-organization, located in Montgomery.

During the last 30 years, Stevenson and the EJI have provided legal representation to illegal convicted or unfairly sentenced persons, challenged death penalty and aided formerly incarcerated people. To a Scandinavian audience, his work is known through the HBO-documentary True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality, which followed his 2014 best-selling book Just Mercy. A Story of Justice and Redemption. Soon, a feature film based on this story, starring Michael B. Jordan, comes to the cinemas worldwide.

THE MASTER MIND

The Master mind behind the memorial is Bryan Stevenson, the great-grandson of slaves from Virginia, a Harvard law absolvent and highly acclaimed human rights activist.

Stevenson is decorated with many prizes, among others the Olof Palme International Human Rights Award. In 47

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

48

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Virg Mendoza runs Ray's Tavern with his brother.

GREEN RIVER RURAL AND PROUD UTAH

Green River, Utah, is a quiet town of a thousand people and a passionate mayor. The town is trying its best to balance tourism while keeping its secrets and mysteries.

WORDS AND PHOTO BY MATTIAS LUNDBLAD

49

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

G

reen River is in the center of all that’s good and holy.” According to Travis Bacon there is no better place on Earth than this little town of about a thousand people in eastern Utah. His eyes spark with excitement and love when he talks about his town where he was born and raised in, and is now the mayor of. As a teenager, it was a different story: he wanted to get out. So after highschool, he moved to California to study and became a Border Patrol agent. New on the job, he didn’t get a lot of chances to go on vacation, and was away for four years.

“But it wasn’t too long after I moved out that I just got so homesick. It was incredible. I started collecting Green River memorabilia on eBay. Postcards, 1950:s key fobs to hotel rooms, matchbook covers. Just anything I could get my hands on.”

Sixteen years after he left, he had to retire from the Border Patrol after developing multiple sclerosis. He returned to his beloved home town.

“I had this epiphany and realized what an amazing place this truly is. I’ve tried to explain why I love Green River so much. The people are amazing. This is my stomping ground. But there is something else to it that I’ve never been able to put my finger on. There is a spirit here that’s just good. It’s calming, it’s reassuring, it’s amazing.”

Green River has had its ups and downs. The economy has been one of boom and bust. Industries and government contracts have come and gone. In the park there is a

replica of a missile, a constant reminder of the Cold War, when Athena missiles were fired from the desert a few miles from town, as part of research on nuclear missiles.

The site has been decommissioned since 1979, but some concrete foundations still remain.

MELONS, MISSILES AND MAIN STREET

Along Main Street, melons are sold in stands at street corners and gas stations. Many have an honor system where you pick your melon and drop cash or a check in a box.

There are also several abandoned hotels and boarded up businesses, telling the story of a once thriving town. “We had the missile base, and uranium mining was really big.

But the missile base pulled out and uranium went bust.

That hit us really hard. Our primary focus now is to diversify our economy. Right now it’s agriculture and tourism,” says Travis Bacon.

Among people in town, there is a spirit of optimism.

The area is often talked about in terms of up and coming, with a new turn for the better just around the corner.

Travis Bacon energetically tells about more or less wild plans to turn the small airport into an inland port of entry, meaning that it would have to accommodate Jumbo jets.

There are some plans of a solar farm, connecting to a gas pipeline a few miles down the road, and even a nuclear power plant. There is already an Amtrak station, where the California Zephyr stops once daily in each direction between San Francisco and Chicago.

One of the thriving small businesses is run by Obdulia Lujan. Her taco truck is semi-permanently parked along 50

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

A quick wash, some wax, a new left-side door, and then it is just to hit the road.

51

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Michael Leschin knows all the dinosaur bones in these parts, life finds a way.

52

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

53

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

FOR SOME, THIS LEVEL OF RURALNESS IS STILL NOT ENOUGH. ROBIN NELSON GREW UP ON A NEARBY FARM, LEFT FOR COLLEGE STUDIES, AND THEN RETURNED. SOMETIMES, SHE GOES HORSEBACK RIDING FOR DAYS TO COMPLETELY DISCONNECT, WITH NO CELLPHONE OR OTHER MEANS OF COMMUNICATION. THE AREA IS FULL OF POSSIBILITIES FOR HIKING, MOUNTAINBIKING AND CANOEING.

Main Street, with indoor seating in what used to be a gas station. Originally from Los Angeles, she came with her husband who is a truck driver, and decided to relocate to Green River.

“My husband asked me if I wanted to move, and I said yes. I was tired of California. We have a better life here.

We worked for Taco Bell for seventeen years, now we have our own business, and I think we do better. I like this town, it’s really quiet and the people are nice.”

Several family members work with her, including her 18 year-old son Manuel. Obdulia keeps joining her husband on the road from time to time, to places like Denver, Las Vegas and California, but Manuel prefers staying home.

“He doesn’t like it, he’s so boring,” Obdulia teases.

Manuel says that there’s not a whole lot to do in Green River, “but it’s a nice place. It’s calm. No violence. You can go around without being supervised.”

ple Joshua Rowley and Nick Derrick bought Tamarisk together with another couple. Joshua has a background interior design, and they changed the interior and added three guestrooms with a view of the river. The interiors are artistic interpretations of local natural sites. The Crystal Geyser room is named for a cold water geyser near the former missile base. The Book cliffs room is named for the nearby series of mountains that look like a shelf of books.

The Goblin Valley room got its name from the surreal landscape a few miles west, popular among canyoneerers and landscape photographers.

“We wanted to celebrate local areas, but not Arches National Park. It’s an easy go-to, to just put a photo of Arches. We want to be more local,” says Joshua Rowley.

He grew up in Green River, spent a decade in Salt Lake City, and now Nick and he are sharing their time between the two places – a balance between urban and rural life that suits them.

“I’d say Green River is the most rural place you can possibly think of. When people say ‘rural’ they mean something much bigger. This is a whole new level. It’s a very small, tight-knit community. Very friendly.”

For some, this level of ruralness is still not enough.

Robin Nelson grew up on a nearby farm, left for college studies, and then returned. Sometimes, she goes horseback riding for days to completely disconnect, with no cellphone or other means of communication. The area is full of possibilities for hiking, mountainbiking and canoeing.

Green River has many hotels, and wildcamping is easy, as most of the land is public, meaning you are allowed to camp for up to 14 days within a 28 day period.

A conflict between the desire to attract tourism to the Green River area and keeping a low profile is always present. While more tourists would give a welcome and

RIVER RAT MECCA

Across the street, Ray’s Tavern is one of few places in the county where you can have a beer, but not without having a meal. Utah, heavily influenced by the Mormon church, has strict liquor laws. It’s a rustic place with a friendly atmosphere, a pool table and much of the interior intact since it first opened up its doors in 1943. Virg Mendoza runs the tavern with his brother. It’s the end of the season.

“It’s slow but we get local people. In the summer we get river rafters, right now it’s dirt bike and mountain bike riders.” Ray’s Tavern has been called a “river rat mecca,” for the many visitors who do whitewater rafting on the Green River and stop in for a burger and a local ale.

Further up Main Street, River Terrace Inn and Tamarisk restaurant, founded by a pair of siblings, have been next to each other since 1979. Five years ago, married cou54

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

According to Mayor Travis Bacon there is no better place on Earth than Green River.

Joshua Rowley and Nick Derrick are the proud owners of Tamarisk Restaurant.

55

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

The breathtaking nature is always just right around the corner.

Green River has had its good times and bad.

Now the charming little town is betting on sustainability, nature, and adventure tourism for a brighter future.

56

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

57

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Even the moon is more beautiful in Green River than elsewhere.

58

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

59

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Right outside Green River, toward the book cliffs, you can get close to the mule deer that are wandering the land.

60

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

The three sisters is the most iconic of the rock formations in the Goblin Valley State Park near Green River.

necessary boost to the cash flow, there is a desire to keep Green River a secret. Robin Nelson tells me how she was questioned when she made trail maps public.

“People said ‘why would you do that? Now people will come here!’”

six or seven thousand, but in the busy season – man, you probably get a hundred thousand people in town.”

This hesitation may be part of the reason for the very limited signage for Fossil Point, a badlands area where dinosaur bones are visibly embedded in the rocks. The Bureau of Land Management keeps a low profile, allegedly so visitors won’t “love the dinosaur bones to death.”

“You definitely want high clearance here, and the sand is pretty scary,” Adriana Chimaras says, while driving Emery County’s Dodge Caravan with a heavy foot on the gas pedal. She is the travel, tourism and museum director for the county, with a mission to develop tourism, but only to a sustainable level. “Oh, we got a sign up,” says retired geologist Michael Leschin from the back seat. A few years ago, while working for the Bureau of Land Management, he made efforts to make the area more accessible for visitors, and started the paperwork, but to no avail.

“When I come out here, about half the time, if I see someone here, they know there are dinosaur bones around,

WE DON’T WANT TO BECOME MOAB

The words “we don’t want to become Moab” are often heard.

Many fear repeating what happened to the nearby town that attracts huge amounts of tourists, making it expensive to live there and overwhelming roads and sewage pipes.

“My great grandparents were from Moab, and I spent a lot of time there when I was younger. It’s a completely different, almost unrecognizable place,” says Travis Bacon.

“It’s been very rapid. 35 years ago there were no traffic problems, no congestion, not a whole lot going on. Then all of a sudden, the tourism boom hit, and everyone discovered Arches National Park, Canyon Lands and Dead Horse. Their permanent population year round is probably 61

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

PERHAPS THE DESIRE TO KEEP A LOW PROFILE GOES BACK TO THE DAYS OF BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE WILD BUNCH. THE FAMOUS, GENTLEMANLY OUTLAWS CAME TO ROBBERS ROOST, NOT FAR FROM GREEN RIVER, AFTER A COLORADO BANK ROBBERY IN 1889, AND USED IT FOR YEARS AS A BASE FOR STEALING CATTLE AND HIDE.

but they don’t know what they look like. There’s something like 120-150 boulders that have dinosaur bones,”says Leschin. “After I retired, somebody killed my environmental assessment, and my idea of moving forward with a parking lot and picnic tables died.”

He points out the different layers of rocks in minute detail, and how erosion and volcanic activity have changed the landscape over millions of years.

“That’s a marine deposit, there used to be salt water. See that gray layer, the really light gray ledge? That’s probably a tuff bed – volcanic ash.” He points out some boulders as we ascend the hill, and there they are: entire bones ­fossilized, embedded in the rocks, clearly visible, and tinted red from iron oxide.

“I’m gonna say it’s a sauropod,”, says Leschin, taking a closer look at one of them. “In a general sense you can divide dinosaurs into three groups. Theropod means beast foot. You can see individual toes, and they are pointed, so you figure claws. Also the theropod tends to be a bit longer than it’s wide. Then there’s ornithopods – bird foot, like a stegosaur. You see individual toes, but they are rounded, it’s more of a one to one proportion. Then sauropods have long necks, long tailed ones. It means lizard foot,” he says, and adds: “I didn’t pick the names.”

Slowly, Fossil Point is becoming known, and has finally made it into Emery County’s guide book.

impossible to enter. There were stories about a system of tunnels and land mines, as well as a huge supply of ammunition. The history is very much alive, even the signatures of Butch Cassidy and Matt Warner can still be seen, written on the sandstone with charcoal or coal tar. “Last time I saw it, it was a bit faint,” says Michael Leschin about Cassidy’s signature. But Matt Warner’s signature from 1920 is well preserved. The outlaws were however neither first nor last, to decorate the rock walls. The area has many collections of petroglyphs and pictographs. The Rochester rock art wall near Emery has almost every inch covered in petroglyphs, pictures carved into the rock. Humanoids, gods, animals, monsters. Several eras of rock art are represented, probably going back more than 4000 to 6000 years, to the Barrier Canyon rock art style, via the Fremont people to European settlers. Also modern day tourists have left their marks. Close to where Matt Warner wrote his name is the Buckhorn Wash pictograph panel, painted by the Barrier Canyon people. Red pigment was made from powdered hematite, possibly mixed with animal fat or eggs. The sandstone absorbed the pigment and preserves it for thousands of years. Not far away is a dinosaur footprint, another poorly kept secret. It’s not marked, but everybody in the area knows where it is. Sometimes people cover it with rocks to hide it from tourists, sometimes its outlines are filled in with chalk or charcoal to make it more visible.

A Green River motto is Rural and Proud. “We don’t want to be big. We live here for a reason, says mayor Travis Bacon. We are going to do everything in our power to not lose our sense of self. I don’t mean this literally, but if we lost all the things that make Green River what it is, I’d almost rather see it turn into a ghost town.”

THE WILD BUNCH

Perhaps the desire to keep a low profile goes back to the days of Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch. The famous, gentlemanly outlaws came to Robbers Roost, not far from Green River, after a Colorado bank robbery in 1889, and used it for years as a base for stealing cattle and hide, until Cassidy left for South America and his companion Matt Warner switched sides and became a sheriff. It’s almost a mythological place that had a reputation of being 62

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Robin Nelson is Green River’s Special Events Coordinator. She works alongside the mayor in developing a sustainable tourism industry.

The Rochester Rock Art Wall near Emery is covered with old petroglyphs, made by the first people to inhabit this landscape.

Dino was here!

63

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

BEAUTIFUL SADNESS BLUE TONES FROM THE SOUTH Has your partner left you? Your dog died and the car broke down? Well friend, we got some music to help get you through it all. Peter Eriksson photographs and highlights his favorite melancholia musicians.

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY PETER ERIKSSON

64

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

LANGHORNE SLIM

65

AMERICAN TRAILS VÅR | 2020

With what appears to be a never ending supply of good vibes, Sean Scolnick plays his folk tinted songs as good as always on acoustic instruments—and damn is it swinging, no matter what! Take for example, “The Way We Move” streaming on this issue’s playlist.

SARAH SHOOK & THE DISCLAIMERS

Trucker country with a frontwoman singer—an attitude that nears punk with its “I do what I want” bravado. Equal parts attitude and feeling for classic rock/country, paired with nice slow ballad style numbers.

66

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

NAPHTA SINGS

Naphta Sings, aka Fredrik Svensson, is from Hälsingland. The legacy from the American musical tradition is clearly there, but there is a minor Scandinavian tone in the melancholic melodies. Not to mention he is a newly awarded doctorate in Literature History (dissertation written about the fantastic Cormac McCarthy) has been published so far, can’t wait to see more!

67

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

COLTER WALL

Grown up on the Canadian prairies of Saskatchewan and barely 25 years old, he is the contemporary answer to names like Cash, Jennings, and Haggard. His voice is deep and graveled, and there’s a good chance that with some more years, it will only get deeper in its baritone beauty.

68

AMERICAN TRAILS VÅR | 2020

CHRISTOPHER PAUL STELLING

Imagine a sort of modern day Woody Guthrie, well Christopher Paul Stelling comes pretty close to that description. Constantly on tour—in 2017 he played over 250 shows! Always with his beat up guitar in hand, and sometimes accompanied by a comp band.

69

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

TALLEST MAN ON EARTH

Kristian Mattson has in the last 12 years climbed out from Leksand, Sweden, up to some big stages in the USA and all over the world. So much so that he is probably more famous on the other side of the pond than he is at home. Finger picking guitar and banjo lines that create sweeping and strong melodies leave us speechless. Go listen so you know 70 what words can’t ever hope to describe.

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

CEDRIC BURNSIDE

The grandchild to the legendary RL Burnside, and the son to RL’s son-in-law Calvin Jackson who played drums for RL—keeping it in the family! Cedric’s proud ancestry of “Mississippi Hill Country Blues” is carried on with honor and in style.

71

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE

When Justin Townes Earle was found dead in August 2019, a wife, a daughter, and the whole world lost an extraordinary human being who was full of musical greatness, and pure talent. What happened after, well no one was prepared for. The latest and last album by Earle, Saint Of Lost Causes was one of 2019’s most beautiful and memorable albums. Although, it is hard to think of the title of this album knowing everything that has since transpired. Dad, Steve Earle, is now recording a record, interpreting some of Justin’s material, with all of the profits going towards a fund for Justin’s daughter, Etta.

72

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

WHITNEY ROSE

Like Colter Wall, she’s originally from Canada, but has deep roots in classic 70’s era Country music.

Can come off as pleasant, but there is a lot more in common with Loretta Lynn than Tammy Wynette when we talk about attitude (those who know, know).

73

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

DAVID RAMIREZ

Lives in Austin with Mexican heritage. Has a voice that can move from subdued, slow, and inward, to an absolute gale force hurricane in intensity (an effect which is best heard live).

Plays in the band Gloriette, a ‘super group’ of the young up-and-coming Austin based country rock vanguard.

74

AMERICAN TRAILS VÅR | 2020

BROR GUNNAR JANSSON

It is hard to imagine that Bror Gunnar has roots in Lerum, Sweden, cause when you hear him you would likely place that voice down in the swamps of Mississippi. For some reason, very popular in France and no doubt going to break out onto the main stage here soon.

75

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

OLD SEA BRIGADE

The young Ben Cramer, a Nashville resident, has received an unbelievable and seemingly unfathomable hit on Spotify— “Love Brought Weight” a track with nearly 37 million listens. Not quite Country, but more folk inspired in its singer/songwriter style, with just a hint of electronic elements.

76

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

ANGEL OLSEN

77

AMERICAN TRAILS VÅR | 2020

From scaled down lo-fi indie sounds of Folk and Southern Goth influences under her carrier, to a more alternative orchestral indie pop/rock sound. All of it is apparent in the highly celebrated record, “All Mirrors”.

ZION, 4 SEPTEMBER, 09:22.

Vägen slingrar sig som en 2 000 mil lång asfaltsorm och vi rider genom öknar, mellan berg, och längs floder. Vi har lämnat Arizona och obemärkt korsat ännu en delstatsgräns. Utah är på många sätt ett slags inverterad spegling av sin granne. Samma dammiga röda stigar som ledde oss ner i Grand Canyons bråddjup tar oss nu upp mot Zions höjder och genom Arches uråldriga portaler. Den dallrande hettan följer oss alltjämt, liksom den utomjordiska känsla som präglar landskapet.

CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD

78

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Chris Robinson is best known in Sweden for playing with Black Crowes—well maybe it is actually his relationship with Goldie Hawn’s daughter, Kate Hudson. Either way, if you like 70’s inspired rock with a psychedelic flair then this is something for you.

HAYLEY THOMPSON-KING

A schooled and trained opera singer that broke away from the world of classical music, all for the sweet tones of Country and Americana, with just a hint of the psychedelic. If you are in the proximity of seeing her perform live, we highly recommend getting a ticket!

79

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

NATCHEZ | MEMPHIS | TENNESSEE

GREAT RIVER ROAD Mississippi’s stretch of Route 61 runs 300 miles from Natchez in the south to Memphis, Tennessee in the north. For much of the journey it travels in parallel with the mighty, muddy waters of the Mississippi River, passing through fields of cotton, the homelands of the Delta blues, and quintessential small towns of the Deep South that are home to “more characters than you’ll find on Sesame Street.”

T

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY SIMON URWIN

his was once considered America’s version of Sodom - the rowdiest and most dangerous spot on the Mississippi River”, says Natchez local John Dicks. “Mark Twain passed through here in the mid-1800s, during his days as a steamboat pilot. He described it as a place with “plenty of drinking, fisticuffing and killing among the riff-raff.” Clearly, it was the fun bit of town!”

I go to buy us a round of drinks at the bar of the historic Under-The-Hill Saloon, a place once frequented by cutthroats, gamblers, prostitutes and thieves. “Natchez

­ nder-The-Hill was a thriving port back then”, says U Dicks, as we sit sipping our bottles of beer. “Cotton was loaded here onto paddleboats then taken north to the textile mills for processing. Cotton was king back then and you had a town of two halves - the rough and tumble of port life down here, and the hoity-toity people up on the bluff. That’s where all the wealthy cotton barons had their town houses.”

I climb the hill for a closer look at the more genteel side of Natchez, where more than 500 antebellum mansions still grace the city streets, each one as ornate as a wedding cake. Here, Southern belles would promenade in their crinoline skirts on their way to opera soirées, while out 80

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

81

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

John Dicks takes it easy with a Bud at Under-The-Hill saloon in Natchez.

CHARLIE PATTON WORKED AT DOCKERY FOR THREE DECADES, SAYS DEAK HARP, A WORLD-FAMOUS HARMONICA PLAYER. “HE WAS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT EARLY DELTA BLUES MUSICIANS. HE INFLUENCED ALL KINDS OF FIGURES SUCH AS HOWLIN’ WOLF AND ROBERT JOHNSON.

. on the cotton plantations, their men folk were amassing great fortunes on the backs of the enslaved and brutalised workforce.

“It’s hard to imagine it in this itty-bitty town, but back in those days Natchez had more millionaires than anyplace else in the USA”, says Dub Rogers as he wrestles a slick new espresso machine through the door of his coffee and cigar emporium, Papi y Papi. “It was not only the commercial capital of the old South, but the cultural capital too. The French originally founded it in 1716, then the British and Spanish came, so you’ve always had a European sensibility here.”

He invites me to see his humidor, packed from floor to ceiling with fine cigars in varnished cedar wood boxes. “There’s a sophistication here and an appreciation of luxury”, he says. “I’d describe it as an art culture. Not a counter-culture compared to other places in the world, just counter the culture of most of the rest of the state.

A lot of that comes from our European roots, but it also comes from the river. You have this powerful force flowing through – bringing new people, new ideas. It has a special energy that creates a different way of thinking. As an example, in Natchez we have a popular mayor who is gay and black. He organises an annual drag race here to promote inclusivity. It’s called “Y’all Means Y’all.” Imagine that. In Mississippi of all places!”

I leave Natchez the next morning and head north, taking a short detour off the 61 to visit Rodney – a town that at one time in the eighteenth century came close to being crowned capital of the Mississippi Territory. In place of a cluster of grand civic buildings though, I find a desolate ghost town suffocated by knotweed and populated by a few deer hunters who have set up home in an abandoned railway carriage, others in a trailer on stilts. Two men walk towards my car bearing rifles, eyeing me suspiciously. I wind down the window. We chat awhile and they tell me

that Rodney fell into ruin after the river changed direction and drifted away west. “The Mississippi River is a lady.

She’s allowed to change her mind and go where she likes.

This is what happens when she leaves you though”, they say, before heading off into the woods, looking for a kill.

DELTA BLUES

I continue my journey, driving parallel with the river, which carves its way across the state in a restless, drunken meander. I reach Vicksburg, where proud granite memorials dominate the town. Here, in 1863, the Confederate army surrendered after a six-week siege that saw 10,000 men killed on both sides. It was a critical victory, allowing Union forces to take control of the river, hastening the end of the Civil War. Battle-scarred Vicksburg also marks the southernmost point of the Mississippi Delta region, one of the most fertile floodplains on earth. It stretches 200 miles north, all the way to Memphis, and covers over four million acres.

The Delta’s rich soils still produce vast snowy expanses of cotton, but their greatest legacy is that of music, for in the plantation fields of Dockery Farms, just south of Clarksdale, Delta blues was born.

“Charlie Patton worked at Dockery for three decades”, says Deak Harp, a world-famous harmonica player. “He was one of the most important early Delta blues musicians. He influenced all kinds of figures such as Howlin’ Wolf and Robert Johnson. Robert Johnson wrote the iconic “Cross Road Blues”, one of the greatest blues tunes of all time. Legend has it that he sold his soul to the devil at the junction of highways 49 and 61 in Clarksdale in return for becoming a guitar virtuoso”, he says.

“In Clarksdale, you either sell your soul or you find it.

And luckily, I found mine here”, he says. “They say I got the best harmonica tone in the business. Well that’s ‘cause I learned from the best - James Cotton who played with 82

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Deak Harp, a harmonica player from Clarksdale.

The Crossroads where Highways 61 and 49 meet in Clarksdale.

Flooded cypress trees, 83 AMERICAN TRAILS Mississippi SUMMER | 2021 Delta.

The powerful and historically important Mississippi River slowly meanders through Vicksburg.

84

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

85

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

There are many hearty laughs at Messengers Pool Hall in Clarksdale.

86

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Cotton fields in full bloom right outside of Clarksdale.

87

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

A Chevy 3100 pickup stands outside Shack Up Inn, Clarksdale.

We are guessing it’s a 1953.

Greg Mitchell, one of the owners at St. Blues, where guitars are still made by hand.

Robert Fisher at St. Blues, right outside of Memphis, doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry when showing off his latest creation.

88

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

FOR FISHER, KEY TO A GREAT GUITAR IS CHOOSING THE CORRECT WOOD. “DIFFERENT WOODS HAVE DIFFERENT SOUNDS”, HE EXPLAINS. “ROSEWOODS GIVE YOU YOUR BASS, MAHOGANIES ARE FOR YOUR MID TONES, AND MAPLES ARE WHAT WE USE FOR HIGH FREQUENCIES.

Muddy Waters. He learned from Little Walter, who’s a prodigy of Sonny Boy Williamson. So I’m third generation down from Sonny Boy, a harmonica legend.”

Harp stops to play a burst of blues, the notes rippling from his lips with a powerful vibrato. “It took a while for my embouchure to develop - that’s the way you shape your mouth to create a note. Nowadays, anyone can recognise my music though if they know the blues. My sound is big - like when you hear a train whistle and it hits you in the chest”, he says.

“When you play, it’s not just about technique though.

You gotta let your soul and your emotions pass through the instrument – you have to literally get inside it, to inhabit it. I customise my own instruments so it makes it easier to get the notes that I want, and that’s important because the harmonica is such an integral part of the blues. In the wrong hands the sound can hurt like hell. But if you’re good, it’ll take you places no other music can.”

famous you know?” she says. “Some guys brought him to Clarksdale and he played at the auditorium. Me and all the girls in the crowd were hollerin’ like crazy, even though we didn’t really know who he was. I saw him a couple of times in Memphis afterwards too, when he had the white rhinestone suit with the cape. I still have the photographs.

They were happy days.”

MORE CHARACTERS THAN YOU’LL FIND ON SESAME STREET.

Come nightfall, I stop for a beer at Messenger’s pool hall, the first place to get a liquor license in Clarksdale at the turn of the century. Inside, the clientele are drinking as if Prohibition has only just ended – slurring and laughing uproariously, some barely able to stand upright. “We get more characters in here than you’ll find on Sesame Street.

Some real wild ones”, says Sherman Robinson, the owner.

“There may be a lot of churches in Mississippi, but there’s also plenty of bad behaviour if you know what I mean. But that’s just life, ain’t it?”

Robinson tells me that running the bar often feels more like being a priest in the confession booth. “People come with their happiness and their sadness. Put a beer in ‘em, they gonna tell you they business. Some have hit bad luck and they might be short of a few dollars – so you lend them some money, or give them drinks for free. And that’s where you get your blessings in life, because it could be you. It’s easy for the shoe to be on the other foot”, he says. “Besides, helping folks is just the way we do things around here.”

Late at night I head for Red’s Lounge, a juke joint in the old Levine’s music store, where Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm bought the instruments that were played on the first ever rock ‘n’ roll record, “Rocket 88”. In between sets I get chatting with a blues fan who’s travelled all the way from Texas. “It has a gritty, edgy honesty about it, doesn’t it?” he says. “When you think back to the time

RAMON'S DINER

I take a break for lunch in Ramon’s diner, a Clarksdale institution, where I find the Christmas decorations are still up on a hot and humid autumn day. “Oh that’s ‘cause they’re pretty. And besides, I can’t be bothered to take ‘em down”, says owner Beverly Ely with a laugh.

I ask her how long’s she’s had the place. “I bought it in 1967, so that’s 53 years”, she says, inviting me to sit in an empty booth. “There’s nobody in Clarksdale who didn’t eat here at some point in their lives. Folk have come here to date, to reunite and to celebrate. And I’ve played a part in all of these significant moments of their lives.”

She heads off to the kitchen to prepare me a dish. “It’s gotta be fried, you’re in the Deep South!” she cries, returning shortly afterwards with a plate of Gulf Coast prawns.

In the background the jukebox flips from “Love Me Tender” to “Hound Dog”. “I saw Elvis Presley before he got 89

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Master Distiller Alex Castle knows that empty barrels rattle the most. Nothing to worry about here at Dominick’s Distillery in Memphis.

that blues was born, you had all these exploited plantation workers, living lives of hardship. So when they sat down to play at the end of the week, with the moonshine flowing, well, you weren’t going to end up with cream puff music were you? You were going to end up with music that punches you in the gut and rips your heart out.”

For Fisher, key to a great guitar is choosing the correct wood. “Different woods have different sounds”, he explains. “Rosewoods give you your bass, mahoganies are for your mid tones, and maples are what we use for high frequencies. If a guitarist wants a dark and dirty sound, or they want a bright, shrill tone that cuts through sharp-asa-knife, we just find the right recipe. I pick all the wood myself that we keep in stock, and a specific piece will speak to me when the time is right. It might sit on the shelf for 10 years and then, suddenly, along comes the right job where you can use the wood, shape it, let it sing, and create a sound that’s magical.”

While Fisher looks after building the main body of the guitar, his partner Greg Mitchell looks after the electronics and the final set-up. “I find the creative process thrilling”, he says. “Basically you take a tree and then you make a guitar and with that guitar you can create music that not only can cause a huge cultural shift, but can model an entire generation and change their lives”, he says. “It’s incredible.”

“And what’s so exciting is that we’re at the tail end of this amazing history of music in the region”, says Fisher.

BESPOKEN GUITARS

Next morning I set off on the final stretch of my journey.

Along the roadside eerie cypress swamps soon give way to the prim green lawns of Baptist churches with their signs screaming “Repent!” and “The End is Nigh”. On the distant outskirts of downtown Memphis, I pull up outside St. Blues, considered one of the finest guitar workshops in the country. “We’re a one-at-a-time bespoke guitar maker”, says luthier Robert Fisher, as he lovingly sands the neck of a newly commissioned instrument. “Each one normally takes three to four months to complete and will cost between $2,000 and $3,000. That gets you a very special guitar, as special as they come. At that point, we’ve pretty much run out of things to do to it - unless you want to rubies on it!”

90

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

91

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Cool guy Dub Rogers at his coffee and cigar emporium, Papi y Papi in Natchez.

Beverly Ely has run this locals’ pub, Ramon’s, in Clarksdale since 1967.

92

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

IT’S A GRITTY PLACE, A DRINKING CITY THAT LOVES NEW THINGS – AND THE LOCALS LOVE THOSE NEW THINGS TO SUCCEED. A LOT OF THE CHARACTER OF THE PLACE IS DOWN TO THE RIVER I THINK. HISTORICALLY, YOU’VE HAD SO MANY PEOPLE PASSING THROUGH OR SETTLING HERE – BRINGING THEIR DIFFERENT CHARACTERS AND CULTURES FROM ELSEWHERE, AND THE CITY JUST EMBRACES THEM, CELEBRATES THEM.

“And in a way you’ve followed that trail all the way here.

I’ll explain. Time for the quickest history lesson ever!” he says, excitedly. “You have slavery on the cotton plantations in the south. There are slave songs. The Civil War happens, the Unionists win and then slavery is over. Hurrah! When the slaves are set free they make their own instruments: one stringed instruments and a drum of some kind. Then throw in their church songs. You got the blues! But what if you’ve got music that people want to hear? Where are you going to make money? You go to the juke joints in Clarksdale, then you come to Beale Street in Memphis where lots of artists get their big break.”

Fisher pauses to take a breath. “Come the 50s, racial segregation is in full force. Black music is more popular than white music but you can’t sell black music to white people – so what do you do? You find a white guy that’s just as poor as the black people are, who’s lived among them and learned their songs. You bring him here, to Memphis, and you make him look real pretty and he’s called Elvis Presley. And the rest is music history.”

but we’re not afraid to take things in a different direction”, she says. “For example, we’ve recently been working with some of the breweries in town. We gave them a used bourbon barrel – they then put beer in it – we took that barrel back and put bourbon in it again. The end result is a beer barrel-finished bourbon that tastes like oatmeal raisin cookies. It turned out great.”

I ask Castle where she finds her inspiration. “Being in Memphis has a big impact on me”, she says. “It’s a gritty place, a drinking city that loves new things – and the locals love those new things to succeed. A lot of the character of the place is down to the river I think. Historically, you’ve had so many people passing through or settling here – bringing their different characters and cultures from elsewhere, and the city just embraces them, celebrates them. Whether it’s writers or musicians or craftsmen or entrepreneurs, we all feed off this incredible energy – the energy of the Mississippi River.”

FEELING YOUNG AT OLD DOMINICK’S DISTILLERY

That afternoon I reach journey’s end at the banks of the Mississippi River where, in a darkening sky, the neon lights of the Old Dominick’s Distillery are slowly flickering into life. “Old Dominick’s has deep roots in Memphis, says Alex Castle, the company’s master distiller, as she invites me into their elegant tasting room. “It’s one of the symbols of the city – like Sun Studios, Beale Street or the Peabody Hotel. They’re pillars, holding the place up”, she says.

At the bar, she leads me through the portfolio of spirits, including classics such as a high rye bourbon and a straight-up whiskey, then some more unconventional offerings such as a vodka infused with tangelo, a hybrid of a tangerine and a pomelo. “We cherish traditions here, 93

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

rev. nat

THE CIDER PASTOR of Portland, oregon

Back behind Broadway Toyota in the neighborhood of Eliot lies a hidden paradise for cider connoisseurs. The Pastor over this paradise is named Nat West, or Reverend Nat, as he is sometimes called, and God Almighty, Hallelujah, can he brew some great cider! Can I get a cheers!... I mean, Amen!

T

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY JONAS LARSSON

he June sun is at its most dehydrating mood here at Portland’s Cider Festival. We go in and out of the tents that are pouring up ciders with every imaginable taste. Hydration, yes. Delicious, most certainly. Dizzying—okay so it isn’t just the sun here that’s making me dizzy, it becomes apparent quite quickly that these ciders pack a punch. Like a kid buying booze for the first time I ask, “What’s like the average percentage of alcohol in cider?” I mean, I am genuinely curious, I really want to know, partly because I am getting enchanted by these

elixirs and their taste profiles, but also cause I gotta focus on work here too.

– Well it all depends, but probably around 9%, the answer coming from Abram Goldman Armstrong, a leading profile in Portland’s cider world. Armstrong looks more like a Scottish soccer Hooligan then the typical American West Coast guy. He is the driving force behind Cider Riot (now closed down), an anti-fascist bar and cidery Cider Riot feels familiar to me, reminiscent of a classic English style cider. A lot of the ciders are flavored with different types of fruits and or berries, resulting in a glass of pure deliciousness, albeit dangerous in large quantities.

I begin to just take small sips and samples—must stay 94

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

95

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

DELICIOUS, MOST CERTAINLY. DIZZYING—OKAY SO IT ISN’T JUST THE SUN HERE THAT’S MAKING ME DIZZY, IT BECOMES APPARENT QUITE QUICKLY THAT THESE CIDERS PACK A PUNCH. LIKE A KID BUYING BOOZE FOR THE FIRST TIME I ASK, “WHAT’S LIKE THE AVERAGE PERCENTAGE OF ALCOHOL IN CIDER?”.

focused– although I could have easily taken down a liter of this stuff. Delicious, but dangerous.

We end up running into a strawberry blonde haired guy with a great beard—Reverend Nat (Rev Nat for short, as he is called by the faithful). The Rev Nat West is the man we came here to see. He is the owner and creative mind behind a forward thinking cidery, boasting its own tap room and located in the lovely Eliot, a neighborhood in the northeast part of Portland. We have a formal meeting lined up in the coming days, so Nat gives us directions for the location of the meet.

– Nice of you to swing by, we’ll see each other then at 1813 NE 2nd Ave. It’s a block north of Broadway, between MLK and Williams, behind Broadway Toyota. I nod with each direction, playing it off like I know exactly where he means, but probably come off more as a National Lampoon, the infamous Clark Griswold in pursuit of Wally World. Luckily we have our friend Laura to help show us the way.

– Tastes good? I ask to Rex’s Dad – Nat is the best, there is always something new and exciting here, he smiles back.

Nat appears from behind the large stainless steel tanks and barrels. He looks a bit worn and tired. Hey man, how’s it going?

– Pretty good thanks, I got my seven hours of sleep, you all should have been here last night, there was a great block party, the whole street filled with art, bands, and people.

We would have been delighted to attend, but alas, we were already booked up exploring other parts of Portland’s gastronomical gems. Portland is really great in that sense, there’s always something going on, and each and every part or neighborhood of the city has its own perfectly unique local culture.

CIDER HOUSE RULES

Nat beckons for a colleague to bring over a flight of ciders. While we sip and work our way through these 10 different, I mean very different tasters, Nat describes how it all began.

– ”Back in the day” cider was a big thing, especially in the New England States. The British brought over the tradition, but it silently slipped away and disappeared.

The reason? The Germans arrived and brought with them beer and it took off. Cider was forgotten. Agriculture played its role in that when grains became the main crops, it was realized that one of the best preservation methods for them was to make whiskey and beer, so we started dinking more beer and more whiskey. Then came Prohibition, a real nail in the coffin for cider. Apple trees were chopped down, making space for other crops to be grown.

But, around the 1980’s things began to happen. Locally produced agriculture as a movement, began to gain traction. Exactly like with wine and the concept of terroir— taking into consideration all of the natural environment

REV NATS HARD CIDER

On Nats’ homepage (reverendnatshardcider.com) you’ll find the following snippet, a look into the story of Rev Nats, “Reverend Nat is a single-minded cider evangelist and craft beer revolutionary who searches the world for superior ingedients to handcraft the most unusual ciders that no one else will make.”

Of course, this grabs our attention. Two days later we search out Nats’ place. Quite a bit back behind Broadway Toyota, pretty incognito and hidden away, when suddenly we stumble upon it– there it is, Rev Nats Hard Cider, housed in a brick and mortar single story garage, painted up in a grayish green paint. The big garage door is wide open, and the Smiths’ “How Soon is Now?” warms up the space where a few patrons are already working their way through an eclectic cider assortment. We are eagerly greeted by Rex, a nine year old Dachshund who has brought his mom and dad out for a cider or two.

96

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Nat West became a Pastor as a joke, but the moniker stuck.

Cheers, Reverend!

97

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Afternoon flights of cider, always a good choice.

Abram Goldman Armstrong is a leading profile in Portland’s cider scene.

Hi my name is Rex, and I aint no beer dog.

Cider baby!

Refreshing, crisp, and high gravity at 98 9% ABV! Yes sir, I will AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021 have another!

99

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

HE SOURCED HIS APPLES FROM WHEREVER HE COULD, FROM THE NEIGHBOR TO HIS FRIENDS. THE FIRST BATCH THAT CAME OUT OF NATS’ BASEMENT WAS 2,000 GALLONS (7,500 LITERS). NAT THOUGHT IT WOULD BE ENOUGH TO LAST HIM AN ENTIRE YEAR. AFTER ONLY TWO MONTHS IT WAS COMPLETELY SOLD OUT.

in which a particular wine is produced. In 2000 things seriously started to take off.

– We are actually one of the oldest of the new cider producers in the whole country, and we only started in 2011!

– I overheard a conversation in line, this guy said, “I have never tried cider.” his friend replied telling him: “Ok, you are going to love it!” Those kinds of things are cool to hear.

IT STARTED WITH THE NEIGHBOR

THE CIDER PASTOR OR MAD SCIENTIST?

– I started making cider when my daughter was born, so it’s easy to remember. She’s 15 now, so it has been that long.

– My neighbor had a big apple tree and I would pick up the apples that had fallen into the yard on my side of the fence, from there came the natural thought process, ’Hmm I can probably make alcohol with this’ so I consulted with Google and found cider! Though at that time I barely knew what cider was. I knew there was something out there that existed and it was called cider, but the first real cider I ever had was one that I made.

Nat made cider at home in his basement for a few years.

When his daughter was 7, he started making cider more professionally. “Mainly because I was getting out of my job as an IT consultant.”

He sourced his apples from wherever he could, from the neighbor to his friends. The first batch that came out of Nats’ basement was 2,000 gallons (7,500 liters). Nat thought it would be enough to last him an entire year.

After only two months it was completely sold out.

– It was then that I had to make the decision if this whole cider business would become something more than a hobby or not. Well now we have been here for 7 years and in 2011 we made the tap room.

Nat and his gang put on several evets, the biggest being: “The Nightmarket” the block party that we had just missed. People who have never had a drop or taste of cider before in their lives show up, although maybe that’s not always their main motivation for coming, because there is also art installations, goats, axes, and eventually yea most people try some cider and like it.

– I don’t make cider in the traditional way that say, someone makes wine. Apples don’t work like grapes, they don’t carry a distinct taste just because of their local growing conditions so to say. Rather, I make cider that fits varying taste profiles, food pairings, all sorts of variations that comprise the different tastes we all have. In Portland, we drink just about anything, ha ha! People here are genuinely curious and dare to try new things.

Nat says that they work in a similar way to the brewers in the craft beer scene. They have for example a base cider, which then goes through different variations by adding new elements of flavors.

– Here we have four different tastes which are all based on number ”6”, pointing at a glass on the flight of ciders between us. Six is the base cider, seven has hops added to it, eight is flavored with orange and mint, while nine we’ve added passion fruit, and ten is actually been flavored with the chewy candy Swedish Fish and magic!

Nat explains that they even have blends, were they blend different kinds of apple varieties together, but it isn’t really the apple that matters in the taste, it is much more the other ingredients and especially the yeast, that impart the most flavor into a cider.

Certainly no lack of creativity here. Inspiration and techniques from other countries are incorporated, like for example the natural fermented cider Sidra Bravo. A Spanish-inspired cider which is sour and funky, with just the right amount of vinegary taste to it in a classic Spanish style.

Every summer Nat makes a limited summer cider. Last year’s variation, “Viva Le Pineapple” became so popular 100

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Reverend Nat in his church.

Rex’s human hangs out and samples some new ciders.

Top left: Freya Stark, was an explorer and travel writer, an inspiration for the name of one of the ciders from the ‘Prophet Series’ Queen Of The Mist is in the ‘Tent Show Series’. These are the experimental ciders made in small batches.

101

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Cider Riot's Abram Goldman Armstrong and his cider.

More flights, time for takeoff. Please fasten your seatbelts and keep your trays in the upright position

that it remains a permanent fixture in the house selection.

This means that they need of course, a new summer cider.

– There is a Thai restaurant that cures kumquats in salt, these kumquats are brined in salt, rubbed in it, and packed away for curing for I don’t know how long. They are then served in a glass, covered in soda water and ice, and drank with a straw. It is absolutely fantastic, like drinking a Margarita. It’s a taste that is just so cool and unique, and was my inspiration for last year’s summer cider.

Nat gets a lot of his inspiration from food, and as such, tries to find appropriate food parings for his ciders, he explains enthusiastically: – We always start with a small batch, one barrel, to test and see if it works or not. It’s a good way to learn. Then we roll them out into the tap room and let them loose on the bar patrons. This is one of the great pros of having a bar in a garage. People drink whatever is put in front of them, just glad and excited to try something new that we have brought out. That’s the best judge panel you can have.

We are selling an experience, not just a cider.

on about how he sometimes loses himself in the rabbit hole of Wikipedia, and how he like to read about people who challenges the norms and conventions of the world around them. In particular he found Freya Stark, an explorer and travel writer of the early 20th century. Inspired, Nats gave one of his ciders in the “Prophet Series” the name Freya Stark.

I can’t hold it in any longer, I have to be blunt. “Why Rev?” He laughs. It is not the first time he has gotten this question.

– It’s easy to become a pastor in the USA, it’s just some forms and paperwork filled online. A couple of friends were going to get married and they wanted me to be their officiator, thinking it would be hilarious if I was a pastor, as I do not have a religious bone in my body. So I did the paperwork, applied, and got my title Reverend and the name has just kind of stuck. When the cidery started coming online it was only natural that this fun nickname be used for the brand, Rev Nat, it’s a good name, and people remember it.

On our way out, Pastor gives us a final verse – It’s magical to make alcohol. Oregon even has its own state yeast, we know that it is important for us, it creates lots of jobs.

Amen to that!

´WHY PASTOR?

When Nat talks about his ”Prophet Series” we have to ask where the name Reverend, Rev, has come from. He goes 102

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Ciders going through an aging process in old, repurposed oak bourbon barrels.

103

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

HÖGANÄS | SKÅNE

This is my

AMerica

SEARCHING FOR AMERICA DEEP IN THE HEART OF SOUTHERN SWEDEN Where does one find a bit of America in Sweden – heck, is it even possible? We sent out our editor and translator Erek, a midwestern transplant, out on the trails to dig up some Americana in the soil of Skåne.

K

WORDS BY EREK BELL | PHOTOS BY JONAS LARSSON

nee high by the 4th of July it’s a saying one hears during this time of year back home in the heartlands.

It’s a measure of yield, an indication for calculating a farmer’s successfully growing corn crops which are anchoring their deep roots into the loess soils of the former prairie. By this time of year, the sun beats down unrelentingly, baking the Midwest, and causing the most unpleasant humidity which can only be vanquished with

an ice cold, watered down beer. These are certainly the ramblings of a Midwestern expatriate for sure. I have been missing that god-awful humidity, that heat, and of course the sweetest of corn there is this time of year. It’s the 4th of July weekend here in Skåne, the southern-most state in my ancestral homeland, Sweden and I am searching for a piece of Americana that can help me escape, experience, and feel Independence. Luckily enough, I have had the fortune of befriending the guys Rob and Dan from HepCat Store, a lifestyle boutique in Lund, Sweden that specializes in quality denim, footwear, work 104

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

105

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

THERE IS SOMETHING SO TASTY AND MOUTH-WATERING ABOUT A GOOD BURGER DONE RIGHT, AND GARAGE DELIVERS EXACTLY THAT. TO THE POINT WHERE YOU ALMOST BECOME ANGRY BECAUSE IT TASTES SO GOOD, GREASE DRIPPING DOWN YOUR CHIN, YOU BECOME OBLIVIOUS TO EVERYTHING AROUND YOU, AND DEATH ITSELF SEEMS SO FAR AWAY. THIS IS HEAVENLY.

and street wear, headwear, music, books, magazines, and accessories (Dedicated readers might recognize this store from some ad space in the magazine). This weekend they are heading up north in Skåne to run a pop-up store. The destination? Höganäs, a town that seems to defy Swedishness with its bold sense of entrepreneurship and its population of passionate and creative people. We have been invited to tag along and see the sights, but for me personally, I am searching for America.

Eat Dust jeans, all sorts of cool clothes to complete your look, the epitome of style. We have some cans of Garage’s GSGP beer, and discuss the plans for the weekend. Jonas and I will be shown around to some of the hotspots up here, we are promised classic cars, BBQ, craft beer, and live music. Turns out this 4th of July weekend won’t be too far off from the real deal, this place has it all—minus the fireworks.

Jonas and I set out through the restaurant section to head to the side yard where Garage has just opened up its outdoor wine bar and garden serving. We saunter up to a small shack of reclaimed wood and sheet metal, Garage’s Winebar, and are treated to a glass of Italian Red Barbera.

Our bartender swirls his wine in a deep cupped glass, taking long thoughtful whiffs in between conversation. I am no wine guy, I will leave that to Jonas, but this was some really tasty stuff. We hang around and learn a bit about wine importation, when behind us, a familiar voice begins to warm the outdoor bar space. Jens, or J.Tex as he is known, is a local legend in these parts, a singer songwriter who harkens us back to the early days of country and Americana. His guitar playing is soft and calculated as his sharp eyes scan the diverse crowd of families, biker guys, hipsters, someone’s grandparents, and really just about any kind of person there is. “Home on the hill… you used to call your home…” J.Tex is hitting me in the feels with these lyrics and his raspy campfire-side voice. Here I am surrounded by familiar sights, fashions, an atmosphere, the smells—heck there is a 67’ Chevy Impala with side pipes and a sea green GMC Sierra Grande just at my back—all the things that remind of me the place I used to call home.

We float around in-between the outside wine bar and the inside restaurant. The place is packed, it’s a busy night here, and surely busy most nights. Families and groups of friends sit in booths, sinking their teeth into some big burgers, their conversations meld together and hang in the air to create a harmonic buzz of bass, treble added as dishes clattering in the kitchen signal that more and more burgers are being sent out into the dining room. The commotion of it all and

GARAGE BAR—GOOD STUFF FOR GOOD PEOPLE

After an hours ride on a train and bus, I arrive in the early evening at Garage Bar in Höganäs, this will be our basecamp for the weekend and the location of the HepCat pop-up store. As I stroll up, I get feelings of a block party vibe. There’s a strip of asphalt running between two warehouse style buildings, there’s a vibrant energy here as music and the smell of a grill working hard pours out onto the cement. People are all over, enjoying themselves under string lights as dusk approaches, taking in the pleasures of locally made beers and burgers being served out of an airstream style trailer food truck, Garage Bar’s take on street food. On one side of the blacktop you have Höganäs brewery, a small brewery tucked into a loading door with a cozy DIY aesthetic outdoor seating, and tonight it is a sort of spin your own vinyl DJ night. In the same building is Högnäs Saluhallen (A Saluhall is a sort of indoor market place, picture charcuterie, cheese, vegetables, craft and handmade products) and a pottery barn called Höganäs Glaseringsugnar. On the other side is a low brick building with a sheet metal roof, there’s bamboo and palm umbrellas, a chain link fence, old gas pumps, and bicycles and motorcycles parked out front—welcome to Garage Bar, a joint that serves up, “Good Stuff For Good People”.

There’s a bustling atmosphere as I head on in to rendezvous with Dan and Rob from HepCat, and Jonas from American Trails. We catch up in the corner of the pop-up store, where HepCat have brought and hung up some of their brands for sale: Pendleton blankets, Filson bags, 106

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

107

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Oliwia serves up some burgers with a great smile at Garage in Höganäs. Good feelings here, good people, good music, and good food.

Everything we at Trails love.

PHOTO: ADAAM JÖNSSON

Style, voice, and good vibes—J.Tex. Go directly on over to Spotify, don’t hesitate.

Even better, go out and buy his latest release on either gold or orange vinyl. Yea, you got it, something you can find on the shelves or online at Hepcat.

Fact File WHO: J.Tex. A.K.A. Jens Einer Sorensen. Born in Detroit, raised in Copenhagen. Learned the ways of the open road as a carnival painter. Four time Danish Music Awards Folk Nominee GENRE: Country/Americana GUITAR: Martin Guitar LATEST RELEASE: Neon Signs & Little White Lies. Streaming on all major platforms WEBSITE: jtex.dk 108

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Mikes Garage is my church! The cream of the crop in cars.

109

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

I HAVE HAD THE FORTUNE OF BEFRIENDING THE GUYS ROBBAN AND DAN FROM HEPCAT STORE, A LIFESTYLE BOUTIQUE IN LUND, SWEDEN.THIS WEEKEND THEY ARE HEADING UP NORTH IN SKÅNE TO RUN A POP-UP STORE. THE DESTINATION? HÖGANÄS, A TOWN THAT SEEMS TO DEFY SWEDISHNESS WITH ITS BOLD SENSE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND ITS POPULATION OF PASSIONATE AND CREATIVE PEOPLE.

the music makes you know that you are in a popular place.

Above the bar hangs a skull of a Texas longhorn, framed by fine whiskeys, gins, and all the delights of strong spirits.

I waltz up and order myself another GSGP, and just take it all in, I swear my barstool started growing roots into the cement floor, I didn’t move an inch, just content with life and all this goodness around me. Another burger walks past, and I realize that it is my time to eat.

Garage Bar’s menu is a composed of great bar and gastropub classics with an influence of Mexican and American flavors. You got tacos, chili, hot wings, ribs, the works, the stuff that gets me excited—these are the tastes of home. But the burgers, my god. The burgers. This is probably the star here, framed right-smack-dab in the middle of the menu. I go for the “G-Burger”, a big patty with cheddar, the house dressing, pickles, onion, and bacon. There is something so tasty and mouth-watering about a good burger done right, and Garage delivers exactly that. To the point where you almost become angry because it tastes so good, grease dripping down your chin, you become oblivious to everything around you, and death itself seems so far away. This is heavenly.

man riding a chopper in nothing but a leopard skin speedo. “Mats, is that you?” I ask, and he laughs with affirmation. “Yea man, that’s a ride we do every year called the Bombin Run, I always finish it off riding in that way”.

This guy is a character, he is like one of those dudes who has seemingly done it all. Rides choppers, has a massive tomato and cucumber farm, and runs Garage Bar. He is a legend with a peace sign necklace around his neck.

We cap off the night at our accommodation just outside of Höganäs, an old farm with period windmill, by having some whiskey and solid conversations with Rob, Dan, and J.Tex. Time for bed, we got an early start and a big day ahead of us.

MIKE’S GARAGE—THIS IS MY AMERICA

Around 10:00 we are shuttled by our steadfast friend and driver, Dan, in his retro GMC van—a mustard gold machine with thick, white shag carpet upholstered from the walls to the ceiling. Our first stop of the day is Mike’s Garage, a classic American Car dealer, workshop, and overall nostalgia trip nestled in a stone-barn on an old countryside gentleman farm estate. We rock up to the smells of a weber grill firing up and are met with warm smiles from Mats of Garage Bar, Johan Åkerberg of Holy Smoke, and the guy behind the name of the garage, Michael “Mike” Hunefalk.

First thing’s first, it’s breakfast and I am starving. Johan and Mats plate us up a hero’s breakfast, pulling off slabs of pork belly and brisket pastrami from the grill, serving it up on bread with pickles and a Dijon sauce. Then there’s beef jerky and beer handed to me as I stumble into the loading doors of Mike’s Garage, completely out of it, a sensory overload of good food in my mouth, and an overwhelming sense of Americana as I find myself completely surrounded by old classic cars and memorabilia.

Wandering through to the back of the garage where the cars are stored, a small Taco Bell Chihuahua bobble head dog catches my eye, as do the distinctive yellow “Land of Lincoln” license plates hanging from the walls. With

THE MAN BHIND IT ALL

Mats Hernström, the man and myth behind all of this at Garage, catches Jonas and I as we sink into a corner, bellies full of burgers and beers, and a bit exhausted. “Looks like you boys need a pick me up” he declares, signaling to the bar with his rough and torn farmer’s hands, for three shots of bourbon and pickle backs. Mats pulls up a stool with us, sets out the shots of bourbon, and pours three more shot glasses up full of pickle juice. “Pickle juice, pickle back?”

For Jonas, this is a first. See a pickle back is a pickle juice chaser, and it pairs most excellently with bourbon, and more so, has a magical property which restores the health and constitution of the drinker, returning them to a state of normality. The pickle back move worked. I eye off just above the bar, a black and white picture of a ­barrel-chested 110

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Airstream food truck anyone? Cool and delicious of course.

Rob of Hepcat Store in Lund keeping it cool, here at the pop-up shop at Garage Bar.

Tasting platter at Holy Smoke. What can we say—world class.

The Pendleton cardigan that ”The Dude” in the movie The Big Lebowski sauntered around in.

A great piece available at Hepcat.

111

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Garage Bar and Holy Smoke have transformed Höganäs, creating a destination and sense of place.

112

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

113

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Holy Smoke – a beautiful smokey mix of all good things Texas and Skåne.

114

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Erek and Rob HepCat Store investigators of life at the pop-up store.

115

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Johan Fritzell and Johan Åkerberg are the brains behind Holy Smoke, an amazing place, rain or shine.

116

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

117

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Johan Fritzell, the man with nonstop energy and the sense for getting the feeling just right.

The Holy Smoke shop. This is the pan that every home needs.

Real Texas beer at Holy Smoke, where else.

Myy serving 118

burgers AMERICAN TRAILS at SUMMERGarage. | 2021

­ incoln on my mind, I eye off a probably 70’s made LinL coln Continental, and run my fingertips along her waxed hood.

“You know that car cost $10,000 back in those days, so of course not just anyone could have had the opportunity to buy a car like this”, says Mike. Simply put, this man has a real passion for American cars, or as he puts it, “what’s not to love about these cars. They are beautiful inside and out, their look, their feel. No other country can compare or put out something as iconic as this”. Mike and his friends import some of these cars directly from the US, three to four cars at a time, in a mission to restore the cars’ former glory, and in turn fill the roads of Sweden with these blasts from the past. “I used to travel a lot through the States, so my love for the country and people runs deep; it’s the food, the whole setting, it’s a lot more than just the cars. I would try to make six trips a year if I could swing it, but now it’s been getting harder.” Despite this, Mike seems to being okay in carving out his own little piece of the States right here, “I have often wondered what happened to the America that I knew when I was travelling. But this, all of this right here, well now, this is my America”.

I am starting to feel the same way, I totally get those last four words, there is bountiful amounts of America right here at my fingertips, and we haven’t even had lunch yet.

It becomes clear within moments of meeting this guy that he has a passion for food. As a restaurant consultant up in Stockholm, Johan knows this business in and out. There are few things greater than seeing someone in their element, totally in love with what they are doing, and I am getting those vibes as Johan opens up a long metal smoker, one that they acquired from the mythical Aaron Franklin, and shows me the briskets. We talk shop, discussing how hard it is to get the right butcher paper in Sweden, how that Swedish butchers really do not have the education or know-how on how to get a proper brisket cut from a cow, and ultimately conclude that BBQ, everything around this food of humble origins, is about sharing, love, and openness.

Around us the restaurant is buzzing, and a bartender brings me a cocktail he has just created using a simple syrup of delicious unknown origins. A chef stands by the flames of a large Santa Maria grill, roasting up corn for Elote Loco. Johan lets me know that his guy is opening up his own BBQ restaurant in a few weeks and has come to Holy Smoke to learn the ropes. That’s the thing with these guys, even as restaurateurs, they are open and willing to share all of their knowledge with everyone, as Johan says, “Better BBQ might be the way to world peace, or at least it makes the world a better place, we gotta help out everyone in doing this right”. Amen!

I catch up with Jonas who is chatting with the entrepreneur and creator behind Holy Smoke, Johan Fritzell. Our bellies still a bit full from our pastrami breakfast, we are invited into the pit to sit at the chef ’s table for a spread of Holy Smoke’s best BBQ samplings. Johan is a lumberjack of a man, tall and with a beard and hair like the infamous Blackbeard the Pirate, yet the man is as gentle as they come, he has the kind eyes.

He slides in front of us a Korean style pork belly that’s been deep fried, covered in cracklings, with sauce and a complimenting coleslaw. Johan takes us through the dish, which has become one of the most popular items on the menu, although that was entirely an accident. Originally, it was a way to use up pork belly bits that were left over, saving them, and giving them a new life. But come one, deep fried pork belly covered in a Korean sauce, you are bound for a smashing menu item with that flavor profile.

I twist open a Lonestar and take a deep breath as I see the platter of meats and sides walking in. We are treated to brisket, beef rib, spare rib, chicken, sausage, cream corn, pit beans, pickles, and BBQ sauce. I don’t know what to tell you about this, I am no food writer, people have put this into better words and you can go read their accounts, cause for me I was totally out of it. Like Elvis in Vegas. Drunk

HOLY SMOKE BBQ—NO SMOKE WITHOUT MEAT

There’s no gimmicks here folks, no smoke and mirror deception. Well, actually there’s a lot of smoke, and that is one of the reasons behind this sublime BBQ, this is the real deal. Combined with the passion and total dedication of Johan Fritzell and Johan Åkerberg, Holy Smoke delivers. I am a convert. Take me to church, take me to Holy Smoke.

As you walk up to Holy Smoke you are met with smoke bellowing from a Texas made Mill Scale smoker, families and friends gnawing at bones under a sail, yucca palms, and today there’s Johnny Cash playing on the stereo. A top the black painted container that sits outside the entrance, there’s state flags from Texas, the Carolinas, and the other homes that pride themselves on being the birthplace, the regional hearth of American BBQ, blowing in the wind.

A large fire pit sits in the middle of the horseshoe shaped outdoor restaurant area were kids are grilling marshmallows, and a long line of people snakes its way out towards the street, pilgrims who have travelled from far and wide, waiting for their chance to taste this now legendary meat smoked up here in Bräcke.

Johan Åkerberg grabs me by the arm and takes me on a tour of all the smokers and into the depths of the restaurant.

119

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

YET, THERE IS HOPE. HOLY SMOKE IS HOPE. MIKE’S GARAGE IS HOPE. GARAGE BAR IS HOPE. THE PEOPLE UP HERE ARE DOING THINGS THAT GO AGAINST THE GRAIN OF CONVENTIONAL METHODS BY CHALLENGING THE NORMS, THEY ARE GIVING PEOPLE AN HONEST-TO-GOODNESS SENSE OF WHAT GREAT SERVICE, FOOD, AND DINING CAN BE.

off of all this food, the tastes spot on, perfect American BBQ, smoke on point, I hadn’t tasted home in such a well-executed and distinct way for the five years I have been living in Sweden. For the first time, food had really and truly reminded me in such a vivid way of my previous life back in the US. That’s a complex emotion, but I can tell you, it is something everyone needs to experience, it makes one question moving away from home in the first place. Luckily we got Holy Smoke here in my backyard and I can come satisfy my home sickness anytime I need.

Not only is the BBQ perfect at Holy Smoke, but there is something so much greater going on here. This place is answering the calls of a higher power, it has become a destination that is one of a kind here in Sweden. Johan is a dreamer, you can see it in his eyes, he wants so much to deliver a genuine experience, something memorable, tangible, and real—he does exactly that. Take his latest enterprise, The Black Barn. Just a short stroll up the road from Holy Smoke is a 19th century barn and refurbished care facility turned hotel. The barn on the outside is painted black, an homage to the tobacco barns of Kentucky. On the inside it is a lodge with period charm and character.

Did I mention there’s a disco ball that’s actually a pig, a freakin’ disco pig! Out back the doors open up to the beautiful countryside and wheat fields, cows strolling past, grazing, wondering what the smell of that smoke up the road is. This whole property has become a dream destination for weddings, parties, and any sort of gathering imaginable. A party barn which provides a service that is niche, but definitely something that is lacking around here. The care center is being renovated to a hotel, with some 80 rooms available for guests to crash in once they have had their fil. Food and drink catered by Holy Smoke, charm and mystique courtesy of the cows and countryside.

out here in Bräcke. There is a deep commitment to making this a place that is special, unique, and unlike anything else in Sweden. And it is needed! There is a lot of generic ‘experiences’ to be had here when it comes to food and dining. A lot of the casual dining and bars seem to be carbon copies of each other, or worse, remnants of a time and place that hasn’t kept pace with the changes in consumer patterns and desires, holdovers from days long past. As a guy coming from the US, I have longed for an experience like this, a place like this, it’s something that has been seriously lacking for one reason or another. Maybe it is the strict laws and regulations when it comes to food and alcohol, or the relatively small population in Sweden, but whatever the reasons or causes, it seems at times to stifle creativity. It leaves those hungry for something more, a bit disappointed with their order, we are still hungry, and I am starving. It has produced and created a food landscape that is oftentimes devoid of authenticity and originality, leaving us only with blandness, mediocrity, and IKEA. Yet, there is hope. Holy Smoke is Hope. HepCat is Hope. Mike’s Garage is Hope. Garage Bar is Hope. The people up here are doing things that go against the grain of conventional methods by challenging the norms, they are giving people an honest-to-goodness sense of what great service, food, and dining can be. For me, this is something I can for once be proud of, one of the American exports that I can stand behind. The American ingenuity, creativity, and service in this sense, can produce a sensation we call genuine. These creators, innovators, and pioneers up here in Höganäs have restored my faith in the land of Bergman and ABBA. I have found an aspect of my own culture that, as an expatriate I can be proud of and not have to defend. I started off by saying that I was going to be searching for America on this trip. In a lot of ways, in a lot of great and good ways, I have found it.

Maybe after five years away, these small details hanging in a garage, or the way BBQ melts in my mouth, maybe these are the things that I can raise my flag over, waving, and declare that this is my America.

A LAND OF CONTRASTS

Destination. Passion. These are the big takeaways here for me. You’ve got team Johan and the wonderful staff behind the scenes of Holy Smoke creating something truly magical 120

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

121

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Mats and Mike, two great dudes who never ever do anything half assed. That’s why it is always so good.

MISSISSIPPI CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM

JACKSON | TENNESSEE

The Freedom Riders Take a walk through the Civil Rights Museum in Jackson, Mississippi, and you’ll come across one of the movement’s youngest ever Freedom Riders: Hezekiah Watkins.

A

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY SIMON URWIN

rrested more than a hundred times, his black-and-white mugshot adorns a wall in one of the museum’s many galleries, and the man himself, now in his early seventies, can be found shaking hand with visitors, sharing stories of his activist past.

“I was arrested for the first time aged 13, and I wasn’t even a Freedom Rider back then”, he tells me. “It happened because I was nosey. I wanted to know what a Freedom Rider looked like. I watched them on the news being spat at and attacked by dogs. I thought they must

be superhuman to withstand that kind of treatment and to keep on going, fighting for what was right.”

So, one summer’s day in 1961, an inquisitive Watkins went to the Greyhound bus station in Jackson, eager for a glimpse of the Freedom Riders who had arranged a sit-in to protest against segregation on public transport. “My momma had warned me not to go”, he says. “But I went anyway because I found them so inspiring.”

Inside, the police quickly approached him. “They asked who I was and where I came from. I gave them my name and told them I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,” says Watkins, who had moved to Mississippi aged 10, shortly after the death of his father. The police 122

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

123

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Hezekiah Watkins and his friends in The Freedom Riders paved the way for cahnge.

124

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

– THEY TOLD ME I WAS ON DEATH ROW,” HE SAYS. “THEY’D SAY: “THEY GONNA FRY YO’ ASS. YOU GONNA DIE IN THE ELECTRIC CHAIR”.

IT WAS TERRIFYING. I CAN’T EVEN GO PAST THAT PLACE NOW. I’VE NEVER EVEN TOLD MY CHILDREN WHAT REALLY HAPPENED.

wrongly assumed that he was an agitator from the Midwest, and had travelled south to cause trouble. They duly arrested him.

Watkins was sent to the local penitentiary and placed in a cell with two inmates, both charged with murder. “It was the worst moment of my life”, he says. “The men had no remorse; they joked about how they had killed their victims. I was sure they’d kill me.” For the next five days he was beaten, molested, and tormented. “They told me I was on death row,” he says. “They’d say: “They gonna fry yo’ ass. You gonna die in the electric chair”. It was terrifying.

I can’t even go past that place now. I’ve never even told my children what really happened.”

Watkins, by now 14, began taking part in regular sit-ins and marches in between multiple arrests. “Voter registration became the big thing for us”, he says. “You can protest all you like, but to make lasting change you need someone representing you at a political level. You need blacks in public office. We made that happen.”

PAVING THE WAY

It’s now over 60 years since Watkins’s was first taken into custody, and I ask him how he reflects upon his years of campaigning. “It’s been a hell of a ride, but I’m glad I fell into it, pretty much by mistake”, he says. “Us Freedom Riders paved the way for change. The road for black people is smoother because of what we achieved. And yes, Mississippi is still dragging far behind when it comes to progress. But it’s moving forward, slowly. And that gives me hope. We can build on hope. So we must always keep it in our hearts.”

TO BECOME A FREEDOM RIDER

Watkins was eventually released on condition that he distance himself from the movement. The police then called his mother and told her to come and pick him up. “She had been looking for me for days and when she came to the jail, she thought it would be to identify my remains”, he says. “When she got me back home she made me strip and whipped me. She beat the hell out of me for disobeying her. She was furious.”

After hearing about the incarceration, James Bevel, a significant figure in the Civil Rights movement, paid Watkins and his mother a visit. “He talked to us about inequality and injustice. He was a preacher so he knew how to use words to win us over. Eventually he asked me to join up permanently, and got my momma to agree to it. That’s when my journey truly started”, he says.

FIND OUT MORE AT: MCRM.MDAH.MS.GOV

125

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

PORTFOLIO

BY JOHANNES HUWE

126

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

127

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

It is the search for the past and the draw of decay that have pulled me into photographing the forgotten places. The abandoned gas stations, crumbling car garages, or faded motel signs just before their demolition. Every year, more and more buildings and magical, lost places, they disappear. It is in these in-between worlds that I have found myself happily entrenched. I move around as a kind of urban explorer, documenting the beauty of decay with analog photography.

When I am out exploring, it is in my Porsche 911 from 1975, cruising through the deserts on the hunt for the stories and the backroads that are far away from the tourist masses.

Scaled down and clean pictures that long back to the days when the dessert states were blossoming, back to “The Golden Sixties”. I am obsessed with the details in restoring the forgotten, but also fighting for them to be remembered.

I N S TAG R A M : @ A M E R I C A NA . M AG A N D @ J O H A N N E S H U W E WEB: JOHANNESHUWE.COM

128

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

129

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

130

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

131

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

132

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

133

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

134

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER VÅR | 2020 | 2021

135

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

136

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

137

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

138

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER VÅR | 2020 | 2021

139

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER VÅR | 2020 | 2021

140

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

141

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Cash is King

TO DIVE FOR | CBGB | ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI WORDS AND PHOTO BY DEAN KLINKENBERG

One of the first things you notice as you walk in—after the handmade posters plastered on the front window, the dim lighting, and the lingering cigarette odor—is the name spelled out in a Lite-Brite on the bar: CBGB. The St. Louis bar (its name comes from the initials of the original owners and has nothing to do with the New York establishment) has been serving cheap drinks and camaraderie to St. Louisans since 1987 with no signs of slowing down or cleaning up.

On any given night, you might find twenty-something anarchists enjoying a Stag and a shot next to a fifty-something architect sipping a craft beer. Local artists hang their work on the walls, and regulars pass the time playing darts or shuffleboard. Bartenders Matt, Roxanne, and Tazu keep it all going. Ask them to make a Sandinista for you. It’s a shot invented by a St. Louis bartender that includes a potent combination of tequila and siracha.

I’ve been a customer for twenty years, and of all the things I love, what I love best is how little it has changed. You won’t find a TV or phone. Cash is still the only way to pay. And while everyone may not know your name, they’ll make you feel like you’ve been friends for years, anyway.

3163 S GRAND BLVD, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI

142

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

143

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

BITE OF

THEBIG APPLE JACKSON | MISSISSIPPI

Located in a rundown neighbourhood of Jackson, Mississippi, the Big Apple Inn is a much-loved fixture of the city’s food scene - renowned for a Southern delicacy that’s been on the menu since it first opened its doors over 80 years ago: the pig ear sandwich.

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY SIMON URWIN

Geno Lee, the owner of Big Apple Inn, enjoys a pig ear sandwich.

145

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Behind the unpresuming facade on Farish Street, hides one the most classic food joints in Memphis.

146

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

N

Walking past the rows of abandoned buildings and derelict storefronts on Farish Street, it’s hard to imagine that this was once a prosperous and wildly popular place - the equivalent of Beale Street in Memphis or Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

There are no crowds of revellers anymore though; no music spilling out onto the streets; no dancing until dawn.

The juke joints and nightclubs all fell silent in the 70s, the bars and diners followed suit soon afterwards. Amongst all the urban blight however, an historic soul food joint has weathered the storm and remains the beating heart of this once-vibrant community: the iconic Big Apple Inn.

I take a seat in the dining area and Mack arrives moments later with two freshly filled slider buns in a basket.

“There you go hon’. They got an extra special ingredient.

They served with Lavette’s love”, she says with a chuckle.

I try a bite of the pig ear sandwich first. It’s juicy and gelatinous, like a cooked lasagna sheet, with some crunch from the cartilage as well as the cabbage in the accompanying slaw. There’s a mix of different flavours: sweet bacon from the ear, a slight kick from a dash of mustard, and a final after-punch from the hot chilli sauce. The “smoke” meanwhile has a deeper, meatier tang - from the beef hearts in the smoked sausage and the char from the grill.

Opposite me, a man with a kind face and sad eyes is tucking into the very same dish. He introduces himself as Carlos Laverne White and tells me that he’s been coming to the Big Apple since he was just three years old. He’s now in his mid-fifties. “My folks used to bring me all the time. This place is very important in the community, always has been. For people who don’t got much money, it means we can still eat. I come once a week when I got me the dollar and sixty cents to pay for a “smoke and ears”, he says.

“Some of the older regulars can even remember back to a time when it cost just 10 cents!” says Geno Lee, the Inn’s current owner. “In all the time that we’ve been open, we’ve only gone up a couple of pennies a year. It’s still very affordable.”

THE PIG EAR SANDWICH

The Inn stands on the 500 block of Farish Street, a particularly insalubrious stretch next to a funeral company at the junction with Hobson. I find the door and walk into the dimly lit space. It appears frozen in time. A wornout ‘wate and fate’ scale offers to measure your weight and predict your fortune - all for a penny, while on the wall an advert promotes Champale, the effervescent beer brewed to taste like sparkling wine and known as ‘poor man’s champagne’.

Despite first impressions, the smells emanating from the kitchen are much more promising and the Big Apple’s welcome is as warm as an embrace between old friends. I join the queue where salutations and sandwich orders are toing and froing across the counter in the rich twang of the Deep South. “I’ll have me two please, darlin’”, says one regular to the cook, Lavette Mack. “Six to go, honey”, says another. Mack flits between the stovetop and the cash till, sending the customers on their way with a smile, a bag of fresh pig ear sandwiches, and a “see you tomorrow.”

I reach the front of the line and I ask Mack, who’s worked at the Inn for more than two decades, what she recommends to have in. She suggests a “smoke and ears”: a sandwich filled with pig ear accompanied by another filled with the ground, grilled meat from a local smoked sausage, known as a Red Rose.

JUAN ”BIG JOHN” MORA

I ask him about the history of the place. “It’s always been a family affair”, he replies. “It was started by my great grandfather Juan “Big John” Mora who came to Jackson from Mexico City in the early 1930s. He started earning money by making and selling hot tamales on street corners. He cooked them in an old tin drum over an open fire and sold them for 12 cents a dozen”, says Lee. “Soon he progressed to a hand-made food cart, then, when he had a hundred dollars in his pocket, he decided to buy an old Sicilian grocery store and open it as a restaurant.”

Big John named the premises after this favourite dance, the Big Apple, and settled on a simple bill of fare including the grocery’s offering of bologna alongside his own hot tamales – both of which are still on the menu today.

147

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Chef Lavette Mack stirs the pig ears.

148

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

149

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Money in hand, Big Apple Inn has a lot of regulars.

I ASK LEE HOW HE CARRIES ON THAT LEGACY. “I ORIGINALLY STUDIED FOR THE PRIESTHOOD THEN CHANGED MY MIND”, HE SAYS. “THE IDEA OF MINISTRY STILL APPEALED TO ME THOUGH SO I DECIDED TO DEDICATE MYSELF TO FARISH STREET AND THE PEOPLE HERE INSTEAD.”

The Inn’s most famous dish came about purely by accident.

“One day the butcher offered him some pigs’ ears for free. He snapped them up, but had no idea what to do with them. He tried deep-frying them, then grilling them, but couldn’t get them tender enough. Finally, he discovered that if he boiled them for two whole days they’d be good enough to eat. Two whole days! Now it only takes us two hours to do the same thing in a pressure cooker.

Back in those days most African Americans just ate boiled ears with cornbread and collared greens, but Big John decided to serve them in a bun. He added the slaw, the mustard and, being Mexican, the hot chilli sauce. The pig ear sandwich was his invention.”

In no time the sandwich, and the Inn, had become a roaring success. “By this point my grandfather had married a black woman and Farish Street was the place to have a business and have a good time if you were black.

The area was known as ‘Little Harlem’ and was always packed with people. Music was a big part of the scene. You had live music in the street outside the Big Apple. You had artists like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong playing at the Crystal Palace and the Alamo a few blocks away.

We even had the blues musician Sonny Boy Williamson living upstairs at one point”, he says. “He taught my father how to fish when he wasn’t playing the harmonica! Then Medgar Evers moved in. Medgar was the field secretary for the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). By this time my grandfather had taken over running the Inn. He was mixed race – a black Latino – and a keen supporter of Civil Rights, so he let Evers and his followers meet in the Inn to discuss their strategy for overcoming racial segregation.”

Lee’s grandfather also went one step further - using money earned from the Big Apple to support the movement. “Any of the activists that got arrested, he bailed them out of jail, took them home, gave them a meal and

fresh clothes so they could get back out and fight for justice. My mom was a Civil Rights activist too – she was arrested for doing sit-ins demanding racial equality.

I guess you could say that doing the right thing is something that runs in the family.”

I ask Lee how he carries on that legacy. “I originally studied for the priesthood then changed my mind”, he says. “The idea of ministry still appealed to me though so I decided to dedicate myself to Farish Street and the people here instead.”

FREE ”EARS AND SMOKE” FOR THE KIDS

Lee tells me how he’d let poor local kids come to the Inn after school; those who did their homework got an “ear and smoke” for free. He also recounts the story of a 5-year-old boy who’d be put on the front porch all night if his mother was inside “making her money.” “I’d pick him up, leave a note so his mom know where her son was, then take him home and give him pig ear sandwiches for dinner”, he says.

“So while running the Big Apple might not make me rich, I leave the Inn each night feeling satisfied”, he says.

“By keeping the prices real low I make sure nobody in the neighbourhood goes hungry. And people keep coming back time and time again from all over just for the sandwiches – and that’s important to keep Farish Street alive; to keep what’s left of the community going. It’s a good feeling. It’s amazing what a difference you can make with a pig’s ear.”

150

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

The menu has been more or less the same since the beginning.

151

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

FORGOTTEN CLASSICS

Swamp Dogg

Total Destruction To Your Mind

The Swamp Dogg Enigma

In each issue, American Trail´s vinyl editor Donivan Berube tells the story of classic, but forgotten, American album.

This time, Donivan talks to soul legend Swamp Dogg about one of his Total Destruction To Your Mind.

T

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY DONIVAN BERUBE

hat little voice still comes up in my head sometimes and says, ‘You’re gonna die.’ So I say: ‘Yes I am, goddamnit, just not right this second.’”

The cult phenom of soul known by most as Swamp Dogg has survived a half-century of exploratory destruction by stirring his own pot and pushing back against any boundary that comes within reach. One review of 1972’s Cuffed, Collared & Tagged read: “This album is by far the greatest piece of writing, arranging, producing, and sequencing genius that I’ve ever encountered. Anyone who has heard the first two Swamp Dogg albums will possibly say, ‘Impossible!’ But after listening to this, one will make the crossover to, ‘Incredible!’”

Such raving praise was written by none other than Swamp Dogg himself, known officially as Jerry Williams Jr., and

printed on the back cover of his own record. “The only album that may possibly compare with this one is the one I’m contemplating doing in the late future,” he continued.

“What you’ve just read is my trip, and if you can’t tolerate it, that’s your trip!”

As an only child born to musical parents, his mother and stepfather were constantly hosting African American performers touring through Virginia on the southern Chitlin’ Circuit, offering up their house as a veritable home base. Williams set the scene in an exclusive interview from his home in Southern California: – Black artists didn’t have anywhere to stay since they weren’t allowed in hotels back then. The music was always playing at our house, either on records or the radio. It was like a party every weekend.

His entire childhood became something like a backstage tour of the music industry, cutting singles as “Little 152

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Jerry” by the age of 12 and steadily carving out his larger-than-life musical persona. He was opening for Sam Cooke within two years.

THE ANTIHERO OF HIS OWN SPECTACLE

In time Williams realized that he didn’t want to be just another R&B sideshow singing popular hits, but the antihero of his very own spectacle instead. He described that period of his life as an entrapment of agoraphobia and claustraphobia at the very same time.

– It felt like I was afraid to get in the elevator, and then afraid to leave the elevator, he says. I stayed in my house for almost a full year. Whenever I got the nerve to leave, I’d drive halfway up the block at most before turning around and running back home.

The anxiety left him hospitalized, where he was misdiagnosed for having suffered a heart attack. A psychiatrist’s valium prescription induced the development of Swamp Dogg thereafter.

– My life was driven by ‘what if ?’ but Swamp Dogg changed that to ‘I am.’ Jerry would never say ‘kiss my ass,’ but Swamp Dogg would.

It’s as if his idea of “Jerry” was too weak to suppress the fearlessness of his own alter-ego. The id of Swamp Dogg allowed Williams to cut loose from the imprisonment of his own mind.

There’s no exact corner in which to pin the Swamp Dogg sound, though. His records are something like a sad

ATLANTIC AND THE EARLY YEARS

After starting out his recording career in Macon, Georgia and Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Williams was eventually hired on to the production team at Atlantic Records, working with his labelmate Doris Duke on her classic 1970 debut I’m A Loser and later writing songs for other stars.

– I wrote ‘Please Let Me Go Around Again’ in 1977 and played it for everyone, he remembers.

– I even got on Willie Nelson’s tour bus and played it for him, but nobody wanted it.”

Too bad for Nelson & company, as the 1971 hit song that Williams wrote with Gary U.S. Bonds, “She’s All I Got,” would go on to be nominated at the Grammys and Country Music Awards. He described an impromptu “songwriting master class” that he withstood in the offices of Ember Records: – I was in there for hours playing all my songs on a piano. They told me they didn’t like them, but they also told me why they didn’t like them. So I went straight home and started writing some decent songs.”

154

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

There’s no exact corner in which to pin the Swamp Dogg sound, though. His records are something like a sad Funkadelic, a Stevie Wonder on the street corner, a Sly Stone in the darkness. Picture Van Morrison kicking in the doors of Muscle Shoals at 2:00 a.m. and turning all the amps up to 11. Swamp Dogg records are funkified obscurities shot out of a soul cannon, backed by hard-grooving rhythm sections and head-turning lyrics.

Pitchfork named him “R&B’s weirdest and most radical weirdo.” Music journalist Robert Christgau called him an “Afro-American air raid siren.” He’s been likened by others as a “black Frank Zappa” in that most of his albums were conceptualized in part as comedy.

WITHOUT A DOUBT, WILLIAMS MADE THE MOST OF EVERY DECADE, UTILIZING SWAMPY HORN SECTIONS, DISCO DRUM MACHINES, ELECTRONIC AUTOTUNE, COUNTRY WESTERN ACOUSTICS, OR WHATEVER NEW FORMS OF MUSIC-MAKING CAME ALONG WITH THE TIMES. SOMEHOW, HE FOUND A WAY TO MAKE THEM SOUND IDENTIFIABLY “SWAMP DOGG” ALL THE WHILE.

Funkadelic, a Stevie Wonder on the street corner, a Sly Stone in the darkness. Picture Van Morrison kicking in the doors of Muscle Shoals at 2:00 a.m. and turning all the amps up to 11. Swamp Dogg records are funkified obscurities shot out of a soul cannon, backed by hard-grooving rhythm sections and head-turning lyrics.

Pitchfork named him “R&B’s weirdest and most radical weirdo.” Music journalist Robert Christgau called him an “Afro-American air raid siren.” He’s been likened by others as a “black Frank Zappa” in that most of his albums were conceptualized in part as comedy. The song titles are every bit as good as the music itself, like the celebratory “If I Die Tomorrow (I’ve Lived Tonight),” “If You Gotta Do Wrong, Do It Right,” “The Love We Got Ain’t Worth Two Dead Flies,” “The White Man Made Me Do It,” “I Called for A Rope and They Threw Me A Rock,” a pseudo-patriotic anti-inequality ballad ”God Bless America (for What?)” and “Give Em As Little As You Can As Often As You Have To.” An outlaw rhapsody with an inexhaustable flair for storytelling, it’s easy to see how an audience could entirely lose sight of whether or not it’s all a joke. Another one of Williams’ self-penned liner notes read: “Without any formal training, I woke up one morning to discover that I was a genius. I owe all of my present success to a very dear person, someone who stuck by me when things were really bad and has never made a motion to harm me or my talents in any way, a person I love, worship, and admire without any shadow of a doubt...me!” He reviewed his 1973 follow-up as “funky enough to gag a maggot and drown a drop. No telling what it’ll do to your funky ass.”

Williams simply thought that there was no one better for the job than himself. “Publicists don’t know shit about

you,” he reasoned. “Records aren’t long enough to say all the things I want to say and give you enough Swamp Dogg wallowing in the music.”

This isn’t to say that all his tounge-in-cheek songwriting comes at the expense of more serious undertakings.

Some songs are drowning in the kind of heartbreak that you’d expect from his more traditional contemporaries, with lines like: “There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all his money goes / Jesus Christ died for nothing, I suppose.” On 2019’s Love, Loss, & Autotune (featuring Justin Vernon of Bon Iver) he hums: “I’ll pretend when I visit our old friends that you’re sitting down by my side / And when our old friends ask how am I doing? I’ll pretend I’m not losing my mind.” Williams’ innate ability to walk the line between laughter and tears has resulted in an enthralling and unpredictable curve throughout his 50-years-long discography.

TOTAL DESTRUCTION TO YOUR MIND

That said, his seminal masterpiece remains the 1970 debut Total Destruction To Your Mind, a unanimous jumping-off point for psychedelic soul enthusiasts. On its cover, he’s sitting on the back of some kind of garbage truck while reading a book in a tin foil hat. The title track opens with an ambush of wah-wah guitars and organs backed by high-energy drums and roaring horns. In “Synthetic World” he sings: “Hey you, I’m up from the bayou / You could say that I’m country / What’s real has become a freak...” Such lonerism permeates the record in that perspective of an outsider looking in on a world to which he’s become misfit. “Another day has come and gone in a world where I don’t belong,” he wails on “I Was Born Blue.” “Why wasn’t I born with orange skin and green hair 156

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

like the rest of the people in the world?” Fleshed out with a cover of Bobby Goldsboro’s “The World Beyond” and more songs cowritten with Gary U.S. Bonds, the album’s 12 tracks combined play out like some kind of underground What’s Going On, a self-produced counterpoint to what popular soul music could tolerate. While it’s been reissued in several countries and on several formats over the years, playable copies of the original pressing average between $50-$100 when available.

Without a doubt, Williams made the most of every decade, utilizing swampy horn sections, disco drum machines, electronic autotune, country western acoustics, or whatever new forms of music-making came along with the times. Somehow, he found a way to make them sound identifiably “Swamp Dogg” all the while.

– I never felt like I had to keep up with the times,” he reflects. “I’ve gone into record stores and seen my albums in the comedy section. People come up to me after shows to tell me that I should be a stand up comedian, and I think, ‘What, didn’t you like my set?’ I’m not trying to be funny, it just turns out that way.”

2020’s Sorry You Couldn’t Make It capped his journey thus far with a slight return to the country soul and blues

roots where it all began. This was the first time he let someone else produce the record.

– I’m just cooporating my ass off here,” he laughs.

In a funereal duet with longtime friend and collaborator John Prine released just before his death this year, they croon in turns: “Memories don’t leave like people do / And that’s why anytime, anywhere, I can still be with you…” Call him whoever you want to, Little Jerry, Mr. Williams, or simply the Swamp Dogg, he remains uncuffed, untagged, uncollared, and dedicated as ever to destroying your mind.

– If I could go back, I’d tell Little Jerry to try and understand the song he’s singing, Williams admonished.

– Sing each line as if it’s real. And the ones that are real, be sure to keep them that way.

157

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Thinking Outside Of The Box SAN ANTONIO | TEXAS

WORDS BY JONAS LARSSON | PHOTO BY POTEET ARCHITECTS

Jim Poteet is one of San Antonio’s premier architects, a free thinker and a down right lovely guy. His architectural firm specializes in restorations, adapting and transforming older buildings with a reserved but tasteful redesign.

Environmentalism is at the forefront for Jim, so when he got a contract from a private customer to build a guest house on their property, the idea of the container house was born—to reuse a container and to insulate it from the heat of South Texas by incorporating a roof made from plants which hang off the edges of the roof in such a way that they increase air circulation and create a cooling effect. Ingenious. Water for this living roof is sourced from the wastewater from the shower and sink, creating a closed system. Smart. There’s a compost toilet, everything to diminish the environmental impact.

The terrace is made from recycled plastic bottles, and the screens for the porch lights are made from old farming implements like plows, a traditional solution down here in Texas.

We like it.

POTEETARCHITECTS.COM

159

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

160

AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMER | 2021

Still Holding Strong

THE STRONGHOLD | VENICE, KALIFORNIEN WORDS AND PHOTO BY JONAS LARSSON

In the 1800s there weren’t any national or international clothing brands like we know today.

No, back then you had your local craftsmen producing the finest threads of the day. In southern California it was The Stronghold that dominated, especially when it came to workwear. With its factory in Los Angeles, Stronghold produced primarily rough and tough workwear, but they also created some more casual pieces as well. Be it the villain, coal miner, prisoner, farmer, or any other type of hard working character in a Hollywood film of the time, and you can be pretty certain that the pants that they were wearing were made by Stronghold. Charlie Chaplin climbed through cog wheels in the film Modern Times while wearing the iconic striped coveralls from Stronghold.

Henry Fonda was both stylish and practical in his pair of Stronghold bibs in the film The Grapes Of Wrath, based on the book of the same name by John Steinbeck.

Globalization ultimately caught up with the company, and by the end of the 1950s Stronghold closed its factory doors. But in the beginning of the early 2000s, a vintage clothing collector showed off an old pair of Stronghold jeans that had been found in an abandoned mine in the Mohave Desert to Michael Paradise. Michael, who had a long running experience in the clothing and fashion industry, went off full steam ahead and started up production again in the old Stronghold factory. Today, you can find these classic models as well as new variations at their 161 at their web shop. They even stock and carry other great classic boutique in Venice Beach or online AMERICAN TRAILS SUMMERPendleton, | 2021 American icon brands like Filson, White’s Boots, Stetson, Red Wing, and many more.

THE STRONGHOLD 1625 ABBOT KINNEY BLVD. VENICE, KALIFORNIEN. | THESTRONGHOLD.COM

New store in Sweden Gamla Brogatan 23 Stockholm Launched August 2021

// sivletto.com

FOLLOW THE ROBBAN (SCAN THE QR-CODE) TO AN ETERNAL READING EXPERICENCE A.K.A OUR FAVOURITE SHOP!

#5 SOLD OUT!l

BUY YOUR MAGAZINES IN OUR WEBSHOP! AMERICANTRAILSMAG.COM

THE ORIGINAL

American Trails

WEB STORE PROBABLY AWESOME SINCE 2017

STYLE NO. 8849

CL ASSIC MOC

R E D W I N G H E R I TA G E

R E D W I N G H E R I TA G E . E U

R E D W I N G , M I N N E S O TA

@ R E D W I N G H E R I TA G E

MADE IN THE USA

B U I LT F O R T H E J O U R N E Y