Los Angeles singer-songwriter-guitarist DAVID HAERLE releases his third full-length album El Camino Sierra on Edendale Records. The 16-track collection traverses genres -- singer-songwriter, rock, pop and Americana -- with words inspired by his life, experiences, people and observations of all that surround him. Available on all digital platforms, El Camino Sierra is also being offered as a CD release with extra care given to packaging art directed by Aaron Murtagh: a double gatefold spread accompanied by an expansive multi-page booklet, featuring photos by Michael Pottle and illustrations by Jennifer Cuellar.
El Camino Sierra follows David’s 2020 album Death Valley which garnered praise from several acclaimed music publications including American Songwriter, Billboard, Goldmine, Glide Magazine, Elmore Magazine and Americana Highways, among others.
“The further I progress as an artist and songwriter, the more I realize my favorite songs to write are usually the personal ones that tell stories from my life or from the lives of friends and loved ones,” David shares. “El Camino Sierra (or The Sierra Highway) is the historic name of Highway 395 which runs through the Owens Valley of California. The Owens Valley has been called Payahǖǖnadǖ by tribes native to the area and interpreted as meaning ‘the place where water has always flowed’ or ‘the land of the flowing water.’ With the valley floor having an elevation of 4,000 feet and mountain ranges rising on both sides to over 14,000 feet, it is the deepest valley in the United States. I’ve been going there since I was a young boy and it’s a place of renewal for me. The High Sierras, the White Mountains, the Ancient Bristlecone Pines: the beauty of this landscape never fails to lift my spirit, and El Camino Sierra is the way there.
“Most of us experience firsthand how music can change outlooks, touch our hearts, and transport our imaginations to new and different places. I hope listening to El Camino Sierra can take you somewhere that refreshes and renews your spirit as its namesake highway has for me.”
Ahead of the full length release, David shared a few of the tracks as singles, most recently “Little Gordon” (video here), “Electric Trucker” (video here) dubbed “one of the album’s most intriguing story-songs” by Rock and Roll Globe and “Days In The Sun” (video here) which Glide Magazine called “one of the standout tracks on the upcoming album.” Glide went on to note, “With visuals that complement the song title and capture scenes of nature around Los Angeles, the song is a reflective work of folk-rock that finds David looking back on his life while also embracing hard-earned wisdom. Dramatic instrumentals that feel timeless and with a little bit of power pop layered in help accentuate the power of the lyrics, making for the kind of ponderous song that will leave you reflecting on your own path in life.”
El Camino Sierra was recorded in Los Angeles, produced by David himself with Jose Salazar who also engineered and plays keyboards, percussion and performs backing vocals on the record. Other players on the tracks include Carson Cohen (bass, keyboards, backing vocals, string arranging), Reade Pryor (drums, percussion) and Ken Belcher (guitar, mandolin, backing vocals).
David Haerle grew up surrounded by music and the music business. His father Martin emigrated from Germany to pursue a dream of working in the country music industry and co-founded the independent label CMH Records (Country Music Heritage). His maternal grandparents co-owned the first full time country music radio station in Nashville, WENO. The King of Country Music, Roy Acuff, took him onstage at the Grand Ole’ Opry before a full house when he was 9 years of age. After picking up the guitar at age 13, he played in rock and alternative new wave bands during the 80’s, before becoming a music agent at ICM. Then his father passed away suddenly and at just 24 years-old, David took over the family business and has served as president of CMH Records, now CMH Label Group, ever since.
But David never stopped playing guitar. In 2011, he decided to record and release his first full length album. He began in earnest and the project would ultimately take him roughly 7 years to finish. Garden of Edendale was released in the summer of 2018. His second album, Death Valley, was released in the spring of 2020.
Track listing for El Camino Sierra:
California Here We Come
Electric Trucker
Days In The Sun
No More We
Little Gordon
Gilly
Springtime
Hey Paul
Train Down Memory Lane
Do You Remember?
Countdown I Got Liftoff
True Liberty
Eddie
Sunday Morning
Finding Natalie (Reprised)
All That Will Never Be
