Thirsty Thursday Featuring Martin Maudal of Baldy Crawlers

Thank you for chatting with us! For newer fans, how did your passion for music and career come about? Christmas mornings when we'd always get my Mom's album picks. Some might think 'OH NO!' But my Mom was a folk singer and had a great ear for the best new stuff coming out in any genre. I'd pour over the album covers and liner notes like they were messages from the gods! She also bought me my 1st drum kit on Christmas when I was 9. Oh, the neighbors loved *her*

You recently released your new single, "Bring Me A Flower," that you also wrote. Tell us about the writing process and where the idea came from. The moment I saw the words Vigilantes Oscuros, the words for "Bring Me a Flower" started dropping on my head. Songs happen in all kinds of ways, but this one fell on me and was fully written in ten minutes.

The folklore of the "dark watchers" of the Santa Lucia mountains above Big Sur has been around for literally centuries and is known to several cultures. For me, scientific explanations for these apparitions aren't nearly as important or interesting as what they *mean* to those who see them. And it's a wonderfully atmospheric environment for a song!

Legends often don't really grab me though until there's a particular story. In this case, I read of a woman who spoke of her mother's relationship to these Vigilantes Oscuros. She would go up into the mountains and leave candy and other sweets on a particular rock where she had seen them from.

Now whatever a modern American wants to say about it, this woman says her mother swore to her last day, that one day when she'd gone back up in a very dark time for her, she found a flower laid out on the rock exactly where she'd left some candy.

This gave me both title and bridge, but what was the song really *about*? And the story of literally anyone coming to the US from anywhere in the world in hope of a better life, only to meet the inhumanity of masked and armed kidnappers poured out almost faster than I could write it down. Sure, there was anger as I wrote it. But the song turned out to be

better than what *I* felt. It turned out to be about more than mere anger, but about endurance and hope... and a future that included those who sing.

Where did you grow up and how has that influenced your style of music? Claremont California. A little college town east of LA. Something in the water there at the foot of Mt Baldy in the San Gabriel mountains though, with the likes of David Lindley, Chris Darrow and Ben Harper all out of there. And a very rich folk scene going back to the 60s. The place was ridiculously infused with music! I'd spend most of my days growing up running back and forth across the street from Rhino records to the Folk Music Center.

Is there anyone in your family that you can credit as being instrumental in your decision to go into the music field? Yes. My Mom. She was a folk singer, and there was a guitar in the living room since before I could talk. One day, she showed as a surprise up to my third grade class with her guitar and sang for us. That is one of my most cherished memories!

At the end of the day, what do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people take away from your songs? Many people feel that a song isn't complete until it's communicated. I think maybe that it might not be until it inspires people to *act* in the world; to share what a song made them feel, or to *do something* about what they heard or felt.

What is an example of a menu you would prepare if I came over? I make the best Italian sauce you will have ever tasted. Modesty is out of place in some things. This, over capellini, with a 1st class baguette. You bring the wine.

Was there ever music playing in the kitchen growing up? I don't know about growing up, but in *my* kitchen, yes. Everything from Creedence to Beethoven's 5th... or the Firebird suite if the menu is particularly spicy. Alison Krauss if it's for someone special.

How do you drink your coffee? Creamy as love and sweet as sin

What is your favorite breakfast? Muesli in the Swiss way

If you could be sponsored by one food/drink brand who would it be and why? Pastificio, because pasta is life! Also, Forza Milan!