News from Terra Mojo - Craig J. Hansen

Released February 2024 – Available now from Apple Music, Amazon Music, Spotify and others.

Liner Notes for News From Tera Mojo

I am pleased to offer an album rooted in Blues: News from Terra Mojo. The songs present quite a few different styles of Blues. This was not a conscious effort, but rather simply a result of what songs I happened to write.

As a young musician, I began with Blues music. I initially was imitating the British rock bands who in turn had imitated American Blues artists. Then I discovered the real American Blues.

I spent some enjoyable years in the Federal Blues Band, located in Champaign, Illinois. We channeled the spirit of electric Blues that came from Chicago and we were really quite a good band.

Many years of rock cover bands, acoustic bands, and all kinds of other musical endeavors came and went over the years. To this day, whenever I pick up a guitar just to play, it always seems to be Blues.

When I began to lose my vision and then eventually became totally blind, I had a deeper understanding of what Blues means. Now, this is my own interpretation. To me, the Blues revolves around loss. In individual songs, there may be wit, anger, humor, despair, longing, all sorts of emotions. But to me the common thread is loss.

Loss of vision brought me more in touch with the Blues at an almost spiritual level than I had ever experienced prior to that.

I don’t offer a Blues album lightly. I have tremendous respect for Blues artists and I began as a white suburban kid. I suppose to many, that is not the pedigree. And I don’t want to be someone who appropriates a musical cultural language that isn’t part of my experience. So, with real humility, and I do mean that seriously, I offer this album.

The songs in it have lyrics that are close to home for me and the final song, Ain’t So Bad to be Blind, reflects some of my deepest musings on the role thrust upon blind people and others with disabilities.

Having said all that, I tremendously enjoyed putting this album together. Some of the songs I’ve previously released as singles, but there is also new material on this album.

As usual, I’ve written all the songs and lyrics, performed all the vocals, and played all the instruments.

Acknowledgements

I want to thank my collaborator and musician, John Henke, who once again provided so much good advice, insightful sound engineering, and general support for this whole undertaking.

I also want to thank Karen, my wife, for listening to draft after draft of the songs and giving me her honest feedback. She has told me that when I play the Blues, I sound most like myself.

I also want to thank Jordan DePatis for the artwork on the album cover. In my opinion, he is a master graphic artist!

If you have any comments on the album or individual songs, always, always feel free to contact me: Hansen.craigj@gmail.com. Join me on Facebook at Craig J. Hansen, Author & Musician.

This album is dedicated to…

If you are lucky enough, you can receive a guide dog when you are vision impaired or blind. I was very fortunate to work with Guide Dogs for The Blind and my guide for 8 1/2 years was Volta. He recently died. The bond between a blind person and his canine guide is perhaps one of the deepest levels of trust possible between a human and a canine. I will miss him terribly, and this album is dedicated to him.

Track Listing:

Goodbye Darling, I’m Like a Falling Leaf
Losing You
Walking on a Thin Line
Stuck in a No Man’s Land
Rain Comes Down
Walk at Night
Good Job
The Things You Keep
Going Nowhere Slow
The Upside
Forever and a Dog
Leave the Words Behind
Boneyard Blues
Too Late Again
Ain’t So Bad to be Blind