Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
"...a collection of some of Sand's finest work. Free On This Mountain is an album for big spaces-its intimacy holds you close and it gives you a home for an hour or so while you listen to it. It belongs out there in the wide world - in places where the views might not be so wide, but where there are more people to hear it". - Rosie Carter-Hearsay Music Magazin
"An accomplishment of high art... I must testify that he is the lyrical sunshine of American songwriting". - Thomas Sneed of Reeltime Travelers
(4 STAR) Sand Sheff’s Free On This Mountain (Upheaval Dome) could easily have floated down the river on relaxed, Don-Williams-countrypolitan currents. Fortunately, with some help from his friends (Reeltime Travelers), Sand’s also hiking up side canyons that Nashville’s forgotten. From the opening whistles of the Durango & Silverton Railroad thru the upbeat “Lord Go Easy” and the title track’s swing, this disc is like a night of cactus juice around a high-country campfire with Graham Parsons, Pink Floyd, and Lyle Lovett. Wherever Sheff’s found inspiration in his new Four Corners stomping grounds, there’s country gold in them there hills. - JC Sheperd-Roots Music Report/KRFC
"There are many people who believe this man may be the future of country music". - Billy Block-Western Beat Roots Revival
"You can't just walk by when Sand is playing-you have to stop and listen. His songs have an intimacy that holds you close and they give you a home for an hour or so while you listen. They belong out there in the wide world-in places where the views might not be so wide, but where there are more people to hear them". - Rosie Carter-former editor of Hearsay Magazine
"Take one part Tabasco, throw in a heaping helping of prickly pear, add a dash of patchouli oil, mix well in a margarita shaker, grill over an open fire under the stars, serve up with a Southern drawl and you've got singer-songwriter Sand Sheff". - Nathanial Miller-Arts & Entertainment writer for the Durango Herald
Discography
Sand Sheff has recorded nine albums, however none of them are currently released, except for his newest release "Free On This Mountain". This CD has been receiving a lot of support and airtime from local public radio stations KSUT and KDUR, as well as nationally and internationally. "Free On This Mountain" was on the FAR Charts top 30 for 22 weeks straight and also on Roots Music Report Bluegrass Charts top 25 for over 23 weeks. Playlists and charts report that several songs on the CD receive rotation.
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Sand Sheff has been a cowboy, firefighter, minister, author, wilderness vagabond and recording artist. He has performed from campfires to Carnegie Hall. Sand Sheff (his real birth name) was born in Flagstaff, AZ, raised in the foothills of the Ozarks in Tahlequah, OK and returned back to the Four Corners region of the Wild West. In 1995 he moved to Nashville to see if there was any room for his unusual brand of original music in the realm of corporate country. With his band "Buck 50", he recorded two CD's, "Red Dirt Road" and "Clouds Turned To Horses". Music Row Magazine called Sand's songs "...the very definition of Americana". Later in 1997 he recorded with one of Nashville's finest producers, Marshall Morgan (Ricky Skaggs, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) to produce the album "Turn Me Around" along with a who's-who list of Nashville session artists. He returned to Durango, CO in 2000 and took a hiatus from performing to court his muse. The result - his brand new 2004 release "Free On This Mountain" - some of Sand's finest work yet. Stylistically it weaves through folk, bluegrass and old campfire country, to jazz and rock. The CD includes the contribution of several local veteran musicians, including a track with the old-time string band "Reeltime Travelers" (Cold Mountain soundtrack) and their main songwriter Martha Scanlan, who's mountain songbird vocals provide backup on a few other tracks.
As of October 2004, Sand is living in Santa Fe with his new wife Pamela, writing more songs and looking for more gigs!
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