“I grew up very religious. There was a lot I loved about it, a lot that left me traumatized and broken. It wasn’t until I moved to the Bay Area that I started singing my songs in front of people. […] I can’t help but write and sing songs for myself. It helps me, soothes me, heals me.”
Jacob Aranda
SF and Oakland has had its fair share of fantastic country music albums this year, but one might expect to hear much more of that kind of music coming from, well, the country. Here’s one from Nicasio, that little community up in Marin County near Novato.
Featuring a dozen-plus collaborators and released by Speakeasy Studios, War Planes is a spiritually inspired, life-affirming new album by Jacob Aranda. Aranda is the son of a Mexican father (who he sings about on “Dream of Mexico”), the child of a Midwestern upbringing in Illinois, and—as one of the members of the Paula Frazer-led country rock outfit Tarnation—a longtime contributor to the Bay Area music community. On the new album, he flexes his songwriting ability, crooning of beautiful friends who’ve passed, familial alienation, troubled childhoods, and more. The work reaches its apotheosis in “Sing a Song, Say a Prayer,” where backed by a chorus Aranda channels his own gospels roots (and those of country music itself) to suggest we all “try to believe in what’s not there.”
Celebrate the album release with Jacob Aranda at the 4 Star Theater on Friday, October 6.
