Season 6 Intro:

I know Paul Hunton from Stella Martinez.  He’s the lead singer of a band called ‘Dust City Opera.’    They are alt-rock meets folk with an orchestra.  When I met Paul and his wife (band manager Sydney) they were working on some music that seemed like a mixture of wild west galactic horror that I felt was created uniquely out of the New Mexico experience where the frontier and the final frontier meet and meld. 

The day we met up in the Bosque was a lot more bucolic.  Since my family lives here I come back for a lot of the winter holidays and because of that, hadn't seen the bosque this green or lush in a long time.  This stretch of river is parallelled by ditches called acequias, and they help get water into the farmer's field. Where I filmed it runs into the oxbow lake that used to be part of the river's main channel.  As I floated Paul into position we looked up into the tree above him and saw a porcupine and a night heron.   Paul, nor Sydney had seen one down here yet and I joked about dedicating the next song to the porcupine.

Being so close to the musicians while they perform is a wild experience.  To have them play comfortably, and so passionately while they trust me to move the boat, especially a much more tippy canoe.   It’s a delightfully dynamic moment.  This was Paul's second tinyboatsession.  He’d sung in Season 3 and I was glad he’d had a good enough time to come again and light up the Bosque

Season 3 Intro:

I met Paul Hunton through Stella. She'd introduced me to Paul and Stephen the day before I was to return the canoe. I'd gotten really good at hauling the canoe to the water by this point, so I jumped at the chance to get a few more songs. Paul brought some ribald rock and roll with a song called “I like cowboys when I thirsty.” I tried not to laugh as he sang so I wouldn't shake the camera. After he was done telling a story about a time he’d been heckled by some drunks while busking. He cracked out this song with the kind of verve that made said drunks blushed and chased them away with the power of song. Dust City Opera manager, Sydney would introduce me to Mercury Slim later in the journey -Jordan and Clarabelle Instagram: @dustcityopera