Prayer for Feather River

Tracks

1	Stompin’ Ground	Lyrics
2	Trinity River Love Song	Lyrics
3	Canyon Anthem	Lyrics
4	Mountain Lion	Lyrics
5	Prayer for Feather River	Lyrics
6	Ride the Mountains Down	Lyrics
7	Waterfall Boy	Lyrics
8	Dangerous Life	Lyrics
9	Ballyhoo	Lyrics
10	Sweet Klamath River	Lyrics
11	Edge of the Canyon	Lyrics
12	Footprints	Lyrics
13	Ballad of Dude	Lyrics
14	Limited Edition Ninja	Lyrics
15	Antiquarian’s Lamant	Lyrics
16	Ghosts	Lyrics
17	Five Pounds of Sugar	Lyrics
18	Tell You the Story Again	Lyrics

The Story of “Prayer for Feather River”

This album has taken a while to complete, but the story is worth the telling. Friday, July 9, 2020, I was excited about recording at Feather River Hot Springs. The concert was to be on the 10^th. The pandemic had delayed this project almost 2 years and I was anxious to proceeded, to finally go and record my river tunes.

My husband, Glenn, came home to Roadrunner Farm, our place in Palo Cedro, Shasta County. He is a white-water guide for Trinity River Rafting in Big Flat, and he had been working all week. He fell ill in the evening. At four o’clock in the morning, we received a diagnosis of kidney cancer. We were both stunned, but he was certain he wanted to go to the hot springs and continue the project. There is nothing to be done until Monday if one receives a cancer diagnosis on a Friday night.

We drove from Palo Cedro up past Lassen National Park the morning of Saturday, the 10th, across the southern part of Almanor, through Greenville, the Indian Valley, and down 89 to the Greenville Y. At the hot springs, I sang my heart out, giving these songs to the Feather River Canyon and the small crowd in attendance.

In the morning, we continued down to Belden for lunch and then through Chico. On July 13, my daughter Miriam called to tell me there was a fire in the Feather River Canyon, this time a bad one. The Dixie was on the run.

I then realized that I had to find a picture for the back panel, so I headed over to the Trinity, another very special river. Soon, that canyon would be consumed by the Monument Fire. The few pictures I took were actually taken near Douglas City. The Trinity and the Feather have a lot in common. They are both exquisite Northern California rivers; those verdant, rugged canyons both burned that summer. After huge losses both on the Trinity and on the Feather rivers, we arrive here, at this moment.

In September the doctors at UC Davis Med Center took my husband’s sick kidney from the eco-system of his body. The cancer has not returned.

A special thanks goes out to Roki, the mother of the hot springs, to Justin and his sound equipment, and to Glenn, my husband, who braved pain and a scary diagnosis to be there on the 10^th. Thank you all for your help and support.

My sister Ellen wrote a beautiful song called “Things Change in an Instant (Yes They Do).” So here we find ourselves in a different world of complex systems of people, places, memories of the past, and visions of the future. Things changed in an instant. Life is traumatic and difficult. Our places remain ours in verdancy and in conflagration.

This album is for you canyon dwellers, you Northern Californians. You are the people of this land. Contact me to use this music in anyway necessary to aide in healing and new growth. Together we stand.

With Love,
Sara Hoxie