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"Equine" by Brenn HillEven with all that Brenn has gone through these past couple of years, he's still going strong! This album is proof to the fact that when the going gets tough the tough get horseback, and write some great songs about it! I was privileged to hear several of these songs while at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, NV. We laughed, we cried, we wanted more! Now, with the release of this album, we can have it.
Brenn took the time to tell us a little about why he wrote the songs he did. So here, in his own words, are the song inspirations for this stellar CD.
1. Equine
Over the years, horses have been a constant in my life and in the lives of those around me. The life lessons that I have learned from them have shaped me, refined me, and carried me through the hard times. It is a love and passion that I hope to share with my children. What do horses mean to you?
2. Back’s Against The Wall
I wrote this song for all those thirty-something and older cowboys that grew up on the ranch and that are still out on the road makin’ a livin’ on the back of a bronc, bull, or rope-horse. It takes a mighty sacrifice to do what you love for a livin’. This one’s for all of those that still ride for the brand.
3. Casey’s A Cowboy
I wrote this song about Casey Bitton. He’s a father, a cowboy, and a damn good friend. My wife used to worry about all that he was takin’ on in life until I assured her with this song that he’d pull through. Cowboys always do.
4. The Ballad of Ed Cantrell
This one’s a barn burner for sure. Ol’ Cantrell was one tough lawman. Some folks didn’t care too much for him. But he patrolled some wild country through the years of the oil boom. No matter how you feel about Cantrell, you gotta respect the guy. He was a survivor.
5. Wild Weber River
This song really doesn’t have much to do with horses, but my wife insisted that I put it on the record. She’s a love song fanatic and can’t figure out why it’s so hard for me to write love songs. Here’s one that I can put my brand on…
6. Rachel’s Roses
I wrote this song as a wedding present for Casey and Rachel Bitton. She’s a ten-year-plus cancer survivor and she competed for a National Title when she was in treatment. They live in a hundred-year-old home in Hooper with the prettiest rose bushes you’ve ever seen. She always wanted to live in that house. How could any of us have known in June of 2007 how much meaning this song would have for us all today…?
7. Hell On Yer Women
Let’s just say this isn’t my mother’s favorite song. But it’s true all the same. My wife puts up with a lot and never complains when I go on a Cowboy Day with my pards. My horses have even more patience than she does…
8. Hey Little Isaac
When I saw that little red-roan mare haul over backwards on Chris Hopkins, I was frozen in fear. It was the worst wreck I’d ever witnessed. We all thought we’d lost him. As Little Isaac, who’s not so little anymore, wiped the tears off his dusty face, I realized what it means to inherit the family brand-the awesome responsibility of the land and the cattle. These words came to me as Rick, Casey, Bob, Bruce, and I stayed to push Chris’ heifers up the rest of Heiner Canyon.
9. Still Your Little Cowgirl
Bill Montag is one of my best friends. We were punchin’ cows one day at the ranch he used to run over in Steamboat Springs when he told me about his famous daughter Heidi. I didn’t think anybody could ever be as famous as Bill but he insists that his daughter is even more famous than he is. What the heck is ‘reality TV’ anyway?
10. Nothin’ In This Life
One of the most heart-wrenching aspects of my son Briggs’ battle with brain and spinal cancer was his inability to be with his horse Jessie. While he was sick in bed, she was in Henefer being taken care of by some friends. But we knew all along that they would reunite and she would play a big role in his rehabilitation. They’re both home now…
11. With A Whisper
This one was inspired by Chris Redman, colt-breaker, buckaroo, and good friend from Idaho. I’ve always admired how he can do in an afternoon what takes me a month with a colt. He’s got a gift and a good horse is a tool-of-the-trade for a fella that does what he does day-in and day-out. Thanks for the lessons amigo.
12. Where The High Meets The Lonesome
On Comical Ridge you can see a long ways. It’s a wild and windy rim where the mountain and the sky meet. It’s a place that I can go to think clearly and sort through my troubles. Everyone needs a place like that…
13. Ridin’ Them Colts
I wrote this song one night after talking to my cousin Keith the day after he’d been bucked off a dunn colt that is the brother to the buckskin mare that bucked me off a week before. My buddy Lawson Hadlock got bucked off a few days earlier and said his shoulder was still pretty sore. My good ol’ pard Lon Hansen had just gone over the handlebars on a little roan mare he was breakin’, and Casey was gimpin’ around after comin’ off of the old HB. You get the picture…
14. Monster On Your Back
This song was inspired by and written for Bill Hadlock. He’s run what’s left of the Bar B Ranch in Huntsville, Utah for better than fifty years. He says it’s the only job he’s ever had and he wouldn’t trade a life full of memories from ridin’ for the brand for all the money in the world. Anyhow, he and I were ridin’ up Gertsin Canyon one morning and he said that the big two-year-old bay colt he was on needed to come to the realization at some point that the “monster is on his back…”
15. Carter Cedars
As I sat by Briggs’ bed during his third round of chemo, I wondered just how much more a little boy could take. He would wake up every now and then to throw up the nothing that was in his stomach and tell the nurses that he and I were going to hunt badgers when he got all better. Watching someone you love go through something like cancer is the hardest thing you’ll ever experience in this life. Briggs has earned his right to a life of good memories and you can bet that we’ll be across the cattle guard as soon as he’s able.
16. The Power of Prayer
In the busy halls of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Primary Children’s Medical Center, Sylina and I were told by Dr. Brockmeyer that our son might not make it. The following day, Briggs faced a six-and-a-half hour surgery that would either claim his life or save it. Sylina and I prayed hard, needless to say, for peace, comfort, and a miracle. Six rounds of chemo, three bone marrow transplants, and a full course of radiation later, my son is still with us. This stuff is real…
