This week’s retro Friday brings you a classic song from Calexico’s back catalogue. ‘The Ballad of Cable Hogue’ is the perfect example of Calexico’s Latin-influenced desert-noir sound and the video reinforces the cinematic western feel. The heat of Arizona’s desert and dangerous, fatalistic love can be found in words like these: “I live out yonder // Where the snakes and scorpions run // Got myself a little goldmine to bank on // But one day my heart sank // When I saw madame in town // I knew her love would be the death of mine.”
This is the second track on ‘Hot Rail’, Calexico’s third studio album, which was released in the year 2000. It could have been a movie soundtrack, so evocative is the music and such is the atmospheric consistency. Calexico is named after the border town of the same name, nestled between Mexico and California. Like the town, the band is a fusion of styles. The result is a fabulously distinctive blend and Calexico continue to engage listeners with their masterful songcraft.
Remember: “Every act which has no heart // Will be found out in the end.”
