Music - January 2011
Alt-Country/Folk
Carry Me Home: Christian Raphael & Songs That Really Happened
Christian Raphael
www.cdbaby.com/cd/Christian Raphael
Play "New Mexico"
from Carry Me Home
Story by Emily Drabanski
Christian Raphael says he “dropped out of corporate America” about four years ago. Faced with economic and family challenges, he decided to “find a way back to his artistic, creative self.” He left Santa Cruz, California, and moved to Mountainair, about a 45-minute drive southeast of Belén.
A songwriter and musician throughout his life, Raphael has devoted more time to both since moving to Mountainair. About 80 percent of the songs on Carry Me Home were written in New Mexico. This CD should appeal to those who enjoy the heartfelt yet quirky story-songs of Kris Kristofferson or Tom Waits.
Raphael has performed in towns across the state, including Santa Fe, Farmington, Silver City, and Las Cruces. It was after the singer-guitarist played on the Santa Fe Plaza stage in the summer of 2007 that he met Bill Palmer and decided to record this album at Santa Fe’s Frogville Records, where Palmer serves as producer, engineer, and multi-instrumentalist. “I thought I’d just record it simply, the way I generally perform, but we both started hearing places where other instruments could add to the recording. Bill has a great ear for such things,” Raphael says.
Palmer did an excellent job of staying true to Raphael’s stripped-down sound with appropriate embellishments that don’t overpower. Raphael sings in a straightforward, understated fashion with a hint of country twang. The addition of Augé Hays on pedal steel on several tracks adds more of a country feel.
The full title of the album, Carry Me Home: Christian Raphael & Songs that Really Happened, sums up its creator’s inspiration. “I’ve literally written these songs all over the state, based on real experiences.” “Time to Change” was inspired by a friend down on his luck who was living in Aztec, and Raphael wrote the lyrics of “Carry Me Home” while in Las Cruces.
His beautiful ballad “New Mexico” was inspired by Mountainair’s starry nights. Raphael sings, “It’s another night of shooting stars and home out on the range / It sure is quiet here tonight, tomorrow smells like rain / A new moon gathers up the sky, the sun waves goodbye / Sends another day to bed while coyotes sing a lullaby.” Another standout is “Sweetness & Lightning,” written about Raphael’s wife.
