Dear Friends,

 

I had something mysteriously whispering in my sub conscious mind to go home, home being El Paso, Texas.

 

I grew up there as a kid, although I spent most of my life in Hollywood, California. For years I heard about this studio called “SONIC RANCH”, less than an hour outside El Paso. I thought it would be fun to be close to my father while I made a new record. I always got energy from my Pops, the desert, and all the magical memories I have in my heart from what I called home.

 

 “8 Arms to Hold You” is a new batch of songs I’ve written with my daughter Lolita Lynne, that I’m very proud of.  We got in a couple of Vans and drove 8 hours across the beautiful Texas landscape to Sonic Ranch. We left  Austin, Tx, (where I live now) with some musician friends. Zeke Jarmon, Jeffrey Olson, Alyssa Martinez and Robert Williams, joined Lolita and I, as well as my ole buddy, Marcus Praed from northern Germany.

 

The studio was an idyllic place, located on a working pecan farm on the Rio Grande River.  We were all excited to see the studio and start making noise! The mystery I spoke of earlier was revealed to me with a hard truth everyone has to face in life. My father passed away the day after we arrived. I saw him that day and I thanked him for my beautiful life. I held his hands and kissed his forehead while I played him one of his favorite songs. I went back to the studio and as we played through the night, I felt him pass. The songs took on a whole new meaning and energy thats hard to describe. “El Alaska” (as he was sometimes called) once said to me, “You become a man the day your father dies.” I guess I am a man now… my father was gone.

 

A whole year has passed since that day and the record is finally done. Through much soul salvage, off the cliff rewrites and quadruple second guessing, this creative struggle was like no other I’ve ever taken. I felt like “Dave” in that Stanley Kubrick movie breathing heavily into my helmet, ignoring Hal 9000 asking me to stop , “STOP Dave. I feel much better now… Dave… Stop, I’m afraid Dave”  I couldn’t stop and I knew that. In the end there are 10 songs born from a collective vision and my Fathers spirit. All executed by our collaboration with dear, gifted friends who made this happen.

 

Your humble narrator,

Tito Larriva