A collection of original contemporary western music, for both the cowboy and the cowboy wanna-be. "A unique mind at work here," writes music critic Rick Huff.

13 MP3 Songs
COUNTRY: Western, COUNTRY: Progressive Country

Details:
(Click on a track to listen while you're reading: Track 3 is soulful, track 6 is a toe-tapper, track eight will make you laugh, and track 13 is wacky.)

Al âDocâ Mehl presents his second album of original western music. With Doc singing and performing on guitar and cello, virtuoso Washtub Jerry on the washtub bass, and newcomer Eric Christiansen on the harmonica, this unique collection of songs isnât quite like anything youâve ever heard around the campfire!

THE LADIES' MAN. If youâre busy cowboyinâ out in the old west, youâre not going to get many opportunities to make a good impression on a member of the fairer sex. So take good care when first you speak, or sheâll be long gone.

PANIOLO. One of the largest and oldest ranches in the United States is on the big island of Hawaii. When winter weather descends on the U.S. mainland, one might imagine a lifetime spent working cattle on a tropical island, and living the life of the Paniolo, the Hawaiian cowboy.

I'D RATHER BE... One Saturday morning, I woke up achy from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. No cough, no fever, no upset stomach, just achy all over. When I found I was no better on Sunday, I turned to my wife and lamented, âHon, I sure hope Iâm sick. Because if Iâm not sick... I just got old.â

SWEET BARBARA WIRE. Did you ever hunker down by an old barbed wire fence, and hear the wires singing in the breeze? Add a few creature noises, a bird overhead, and a coyote off in the distance, and youâve got yourself a regular cowboy choir.

WET DOG. Leave it to the golden retriever to always find a puddle for splashing when weâre out and about. After piling back into the vehicle, the smell of that dogâs wet fur struck me as one of those memorable sensations that canât be mistaken for anything else.

BRAND NEW LEATHER. A few years back, I was asked to play for a group of leather workers and saddle makers. They seemed to be hoping for a song about the feel and the smell of âbrand new leather.â I guess I couldnât fathom their using the word âbrandâ as an adjective rather than as a verb.

CAN'T DO WITHOUT... If you have to grow old, you couldnât do better than to have Kath and Jim taking care of you. She was Kathâs mother, but we all just called her âMama.â As she continued to lose her faculties over time, I couldnât help inventing a few of my own stories about her now forgotten past.

TWENTY POUNDS OVER. Iâll admit to carrying a bit too much weight. Seems I was holding my own, though, rock steady at about twenty pounds overweight. Then, ever so gradually, my weight started creeping up again, until one day I was shocked to weigh in at twenty pounds over my previous twenty-pound excess. This canât be good.

LEAVIN' MONTAN'. Imagine being an early explorer in the rugged Rocky Mountains, and stumbling across a magical valley of azure waters, boiling mud, and echoing eruptions of jets of white steam. This song is set in a time when Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho were all U.S. territories rather than states, and the mystical corner where they meet was not yet a national park.

STARTIN' TODAY. With each passing year, there arenât as many cowboys left playing the traditional tunes and sharing the old stories. Hereâs a song in remembrance of one of the old guard.

WOULD I WERE A COWBOY. Years ago, my sweet bride Annie introduced me to her long-time friend, Ramblinâ Jack Elliott. He dropped in, and stayed in his run down motor home parked outside our house long enough to get the neighbors whispering about us. Then he was off to new adventures. I guess thereâs just a little bit of Jack in my song and in my spirit.

LOVE IS LIKE... I told Annie that I had finally composed the love song she keeps encouraging me to write. She listened to it once, and then said, âKeep trying.â

HAPPY TRAIL MIX. If youâre going to sing about the lives of men who work cattle, eating beef would seem to be a prerequisite. In the cattlemanâs battle to compete with emerging dietary trends, this finale is a new take on a familiar tune.

So just who is this Al "Doc" Mehl, anyway?

Hailing from Boulder, Colorado, Al âDocâ Mehl traces his family roots to Central Kansas, where his grandfather raised six children on the family homestead. With one foot in the past and one in the present, Al weaves the history and the mystery of the West into his original poetry and music. He has performed in cowboy poetry festivals from Denver to Durango, from El Paso to Cheyenne. His debut music CD is titled âAsphalt Cowboy,â and this second music CD titled âIâd Rather Be...â was released in 2008. Al has also published a CD of original poetry titled âCowboy Pottery,â and his poems have been featured on the website www.CowboyPoetry.com. Poet Doris Daley describes his work as ârefreshing, original, witty, and loaded with clever wordplay about contemporary cowboy life.â Musician Juni Fisher adds, âJust when you think his fries have been left out of his Happy Meal, he whacks you over the head with a verse that leaves you stunned.â And, in the words of Rick Huff as published in The Western Way magazine, âthereâs a unique mind at work here that may be one of a kind in the Western Music arena.â

People who are interested in Lyle Lovett Brad Paisley Garrison Keillor should consider this download.