Jack Loeffler

Now in paperback, this is a biographical memoir of Edward Abby, a free spirited author who, like no other before him, has truly influenced the American West. "Jack's story elucidates and demythifies the Abbey legend, giving us powerful flesh and blood instead."--John Nichols

A companion set of audio compact discs to the text collecting examples of the musical forms used over the centuries in this often isolated and harsh but beautiful region of the Rio Rande. A blend of religious and secular music from sixteenth-century Spain, Mexican-influenced folk tunes, and melodies indigenous to the life of the region, the music covered here includes romances, trovos, cuandos and decimas, inditas, corridos, canciónes, ceremonial and religious music, and dance music.

Loeffler has recorded interviews with representatives of the diverse cultures of New Mexico, revealing the cultural mosaic of the people along the Continental Divide.

First published in 1980 and now available only from the University of New Mexico Press, this classic compilation of New Mexico folk music is based on thirty-five years of field research by a giant of modern music, composer John Donald Robb.

Loeffler, a former jazz musician, fire lookout, museum curator, bioregionalist, and self-taught aural historian, shares his humor and imagination, his adventures, observations, reflections, and meditations along the trail in his retelling of a life well lived.