rock and roll – Kevin Trent Boswell

The Ghost of Tom Joad

guitar, bass, and vocals by Trent Boswell

Late last year, I moved to Portland, Oregon. It’s a wonderfully weird place. The locals actually say, “Keep Portland weird.” There’s a large mural of that saying, somewhere in the city. Everything about this place is quirky, eccentric, and hence, I should fit in here, just fine.

I also started a new job. I’m working in the mental health field. No, I’m not a doctor, therapist, and definitely not a psychiatrist. I just work for a company that trains us to assist people who have one or more mental health diagnoses, addiction problems, or who have lived on the streets, but are now in reliable housing, provided by the state. It’s a good gig. I get paid well, to help the people who really need help the most.

On Friday night, it started snowing, the temperatures were bottoming out as low as 18°F. That’s well below freezing, and it doesn’t even account for the windchill factor.

The other, less positive side of Portland, is that the homelessness crisis here is really bad. It’s almost impossible to go anywhere without seeing at least one car, RV, tent, or lean-to type shelter that someone is using to live in.

I first discovered this song from the band Junip. When I realized that it’s a cover of Bruce Springsteen, I found the original, and loved it, too.

This morning, it’s so cold outside, that neither my dog nor myself want to go outside any longer than is absolutely necessary. But, there are people out there, living in tents and sleeping bags.

I woke up to this song playing, I had left my phone on shuffle all night to help me sleep. I listened to it, looked at the weather, then became obsessed.

I’d never played this song before, but I learned it, then I recorded all the guitar and bass parts, and sang the vocal, and recorded it, and mixed it. Basically my whole Sunday went into this.

I plan to make a video for it, but I wanted to get this out, because I worked on it nonstop all day.

The Ghost of Tom Joad

Men walkin’ ‘long the railroad tracks
Goin’ someplace there’s no goin’ back
Highway patrol choppers
Comin’ up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge

Shelter line stretchin’ ’round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleepin’ in their cars in the Southwest,
No home no job no peace no rest

The highway is alive tonight
But nobody’s kiddin’ nobody
About where it goes
I’m sittin’ down here in the campfire light Searchin’ for the ghost of Tom Joad

He pulls a prayer book out of his sleeping bag Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag
Waitin’ for when the last shall be first, and
The first shall be last
In a cardboard box ‘neath the underpass

Got a oneway ticket to the promised land
You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock
Bathin’ in the city aqueduct

The highway is alive tonight
Where it’s headed everybody knows
I’m sittin’ down here in the campfire light
Waitin’ on the ghost of Tom Joad

Now Tom said,
“Mom, wherever there’s a cop beatin’ a guy
“The Ghost Of Tom Joad” lyrics
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there’s a fight ‘gainst the blood and
Hatred in the air Look for me Mom I’ll be there

“Wherever there’s somebody fightin’
For a place to stand
Or decent job or a helpin’ hand
Wherever somebody’s strugglin’ to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you’ll see me.”

Well the highway is alive tonight
But nobody’s kiddin’ nobody
About where it goes
I’m sittin’ down here in the campfire light
With the ghost of old Tom Joad

Words and music by Bruce Springsteen

Area 25

The new album is available. It’s called Area 25.

Below, you’ll find links to get your copy, music videos from Area 25, plus the super-interesting, totally true, absolutely not made up backstory behind the album.

Area 25 - new music by Trent Boswell — The excellent cover art was generously provided by **Dorian Strange**.

Area 25 is available on…

Area 25 is also available on Napster and all the major music streaming services.

Follow the Trent Boswell page, Magus Music

Subscribe ☑️ to the Trent Boswell on YouTube

It really helps me out a lot when you give the videos a thumbs up 👍 leave a comment 💭 and share your favorites on your social media pages ♥️

Videos from Area 25

Unchanged

Into the Fold

Three Day Beard

Hopium Blues

Scorpio

Tact

War on Venus

I Wasn’t Using It

All Around

Upbeat Dance Number

We’re All Gonna Fade Away

At the Bottom

Mandala of Sand, Pt. 1

Trent Boswell Bio

Kevin Trent Boswell is a thing that once blinked briefly in and out of existence. It made noises and gestures while it lasted. The exact nature of its demise is unclear. Some sources say it collapsed beneath the weight of entropy and time. Other tertiary facts suggest the possibility that it was destroyed by a predator, an accident, or perhaps even by itself. The truth of the matter is unknown. Luckily, no one cares.

The Story Behind Area 25

Area 25 is a traveler’s atlas for navigating endless, winding caves, wormholes, cracks in reality, tears in the space-time continuum, black holes, abysmal hellscapes, and all of the most common types of bottomless pits that comprise the modern world.

The somber, dystopian audio guidebook is delivered over an eclectic musical soundtrack of rock, psychedelia, pop, funk, and dire expressions of poetic mental illness.

Area 25 is an exorcist’s manual for the perils of life on Earth for Homo sapiens. It catalogues the sundry catastrophes that plague the upright ape, namely those of poverty, depression, rejection of the tribe, and failed attempts at relationships, friendships, and spiritual endeavors.

Not for the faint of heart (nor the “feint” of heart), Area 25 is a dark, gritty, and gloomy telling of the myriad ways in which hominids undo themselves, rend each other asunder, and even casually rip apart their sole means of survival, the ecosystem in which they habitat. Odd beings, at best; horrible monsters, at worst.

Genesis

An ancient evil spirit was once trapped for centuries inside a dybbuk. Through the foolish mistake of some human, the demon escaped.

The ghoul found amusement in tormenting one particular human critter, who’s name was Trent Boswell. The tortures took shape by possessing the human with an inescapable obsession to create something called “Area 25.”

The demon wanted the brainless exploits of humans captured on record, so it would have something to laugh about, later; much like you might watch an episode of Seinfeld, even though you’ve already seen it several times.

The dark cruelty of this promethean ordeal rested in the fact that the human was entirely lacking the necessary resources for the production of a proper, commercially viable product. It was working only with a ten-year-old Macintosh computer, an old version of GarageBand, an inexpensive condenser mic, a FocusRite preamp, a cheap bass guitar, a pair of 3 1/2” monitors, and a nice Fender Stratocaster.

What the demon didn’t expect, is that the human would actually persist through said tribulations of substandard working conditions, and complete the project. Much to the demon’s surprise, the human finished the project, despite the lack of access to a professional recording studio, or the backing of a major record label.

The end result, a tabulation of human follies and foibles, will now provide the escaped beastie with comedic entertainment for the coming aeons, long after humans have disappeared from the planet; which should be anytime within the next couple of decades.

Score one for the infernal realm.

Magus72 on Patreon - the music, poetry, and madness of Kevin Trent Boswell — Magus72 on Patreon – the music, poetry, and madness of Kevin Trent Boswell

Three Day Beard

“Three Day Beard”- music video from the new Trent Boswell album, Area 25

“Three Day Beard” from Area 25, by Trent Boswell

Release date is February 22, 2023. Note, it may be up to a week before the album starts showing up on the various music platforms.

Available on all the major music streaming services, like Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, and many more.

Album cover art by Dorian Strange.

Lyrics for “Three Day Beard”

Standing in a soup line
Sucking on a tail pipe
Working on a new crime;
Against myself,
How many times
Can I kill myself?
Before I die?
God knows I tried
To find out

II.

I wandered where the women went
Thought my soul could be at ease
I never lost my good intent
But found myself wishing
I’d never had it at all
Never had it at all
Is that what you’d call
A fall from
Grace?

III.

Listen here man and wo-man alike
I won’t tell you about all the cigarettes
And the booze, and the other scenarios
I won’t tell you about all the hard feelings
And the petty larcenies
I won’t tell you about all the
Broken bones and homes
Rendered in brutal beatings
And I won’t even tell you about the sadness;
The heavy, “wish we weren’t here” melancholy
But I will tell you this:
There are people who walk this earth
Who are so beautiful, on the inside,
They make angels blush
And you…
Ain’t one of them

IV.

Allow me some time
To be angry
I’ll shout, not speak my mind
I’m hungry;
Don’t wanna eat

Forgive my trespass
I’m not sorry
Thought maybe you had grown,
Just a little,
I was wrong
But don’t worry
You will

You will
Just not with me

VI.

If you wipe the slate clean,
Just kick back and dream:
Never learn a thing
About what you see

VII.

My license to be blind
Has been revoked
Just in time
And now I see the work
Cut out for me

©️2023 Kevin Trent Boswell

Something in the Air – Links

I’m hesitant to do any regular promotion today because of everything that is going on in America. My heart goes out to women everywhere, as well as all of the other minority groups that SCOTUS has in their sights to attack and marginalize next.

There is nothing I could possibly say or do that could make any of that madness seem less important. I’ll do anything that I can to help, but I am honestly clueless about how I might help, beyond voting and just being a supporter of equal rights for all people. Try to stay strong and please, take good care of yourselves; it’s easy to slip into depression and bad habits when we see our nation slipping toward authoritarianism.

All that said, somehow, someway, life has to trudge on forward. As you might already know, my new album is out, and that means part of my job is to promote the stupid thing. Actually, it’s not stupid at all—I’m exceedingly proud of it. I think it came out great. I’d love for it to be some kind of small escape from the harsh realities we’re facing.

Something in the Air, a new music album by Trent Boswell — Something in the Air – Music by Trent Boswell

Below, I’m providing some links to the bigger music streaming services that carry the album. If you subscribe to any of these, you can do me a huge favor by liking the tracks on all the services you have access to. You can of course purchase the album or individual tracks through most of these outlets. That’s excellent because it helps me to make more music for everyone.

However, it’s incredibly easy (and free) to just favorite, like, thumbs up 👍 the songs you like, and to add them to your favorite playlists on outlets like Spotify.

If you really want to help out, really go the extra mile, you can share the album or individual songs to your social media pages.

There’s also the YouTube channel, which provides interesting visuals for the music.

Something in the Air

Existential art rock for perspicacious psychonauts and connoisseurs of eclectic, eccentric soundscapes, chock full of the beautiful terrible. Ten original songs about things which are replaced by new, theoretical things that never arrive.

2 cups of Rock and Roll, ⅓ cup of Pop Music, 3 heaping tablespoons of psychedelics, and one fifteen inch subwoofer of pure Funkadelia. Use responsibly. May interact with certain medications. May be illegal in your area.

Links

Amazon Music – Something in the Air

Apple Music – Something in the Air

Spotify – Something in the Air

Pandora – Something in the Air by Trent Boswell

YouTube Music – Something in the Air

iHeart Radio – Something in the Air

Deezer – Something in the Air by Trent Boswell

Napster – I don’t know the link because I’m not a subscriber, so I can’t look it up

There are plenty of other music services that carry the album; these are just the biggest ones.

And here’s a video of one the songs, track number three from Something in the Air. This one is called A Nice, Quiet Place to Die. Despite the seemingly dark title, it’s really a love song. It’s about loving other people, animals, and the Earth itself. Enjoy.

A Nice, Quiet Place to Die, by Trent Boswell

Remix – War On Venus

War on Venus – Original music by Magus

I posted this song before, but I have entirely remixed it. The new mix sounds far superior to the original. I also shortened the title from “Tales of War On Venus” to “War on Venus.”

Lyrics:

We sit, swapping war stories
We’ve barred all the windows and doors
Each of us covered in blood
Half of it mine, half of it yours

Two chairs, sitting face to face
The room is bare, otherwise
Suspiciously watching each other for
Sudden movements, any shift in the eyes

There’s a word for why we’re here
The trap, it fits us like a glove
Explains all the mess and the misery
And that four-letter word is love

Pause long enough to take a shot
From the big bottle of poison
We’re not much but we’re all that we’ve got
We sweat bullets and swear “You’re the one.
You’re the only one for me.”

Weapons at the ready, there in our laps
Fingers never far from the trigger
No one smiles, no one eats or sleeps
Shots of whiskey and resentment get bigger

It’s no mystery how or where
We both know who’s to blame, we insist
Each of us swearing that the other struck first
It was a case of love at first fist

There’s a word for why we’re here
This trap, it fits us like a glove
Explains all the mess and misery
And that four-letter word is love

Video clips by:

and Alex Green, Timur Weber, Diva Plavalaguna, Gustavo Fring

Tact

This is another song that I wrote in my early twenties but it’s only now getting a proper recording.

https://youtu.be/jRSqwb3LqWs

Magus – Tact

Back Story

I played this tune with various bands over the years but we never got a usable recording, because they were usually done in dive bars with poor acoustics. There was no separation of the instruments, only the chaotic din of drunken idiots in the background.

I do still have the original, cassette demo that I recorded on a reel to reel tape machine. I no longer have that machine [insert sadness and woe, here] but I have the recording. It’s ok but it’s just guitar and vocals and covered in that old school, analog tape hiss.

This is a full treatment, with rhythm guitar, lead guitar, vocals, bass, all of which I’m doing. The lead guitar part is a first take improvisation. I’ve never played lead over this song before, because I was always busy playing the rhythm and singing the lead part.

Actually, I’d never even thought about what I’d want the lead guitar part to sound like, because keeping a band together was trouble enough to keep my mind thoroughly occupied. So, I just hit record and rolled with it. I’m pretty pleased with the result.

It’s also got drums and hand percussion, performed by Stinky the Robot drummer. I’ve got him trained pretty well at this point. He eats a small amount of electricity, sleeps in his little box and he only bites occasionally, now; I’ve even removed the shock collar.

It’s really one of the most simple, straightforward songs that I’ve ever written. There’s a main riff and a slight variation on it, toward the middle. Then, there’s the verse part, a two-measure figure that repeats, over and over.

There’s three, short verses, no chorus and no bridge. That’s because it was originally a poem and I had no desire to adapt the words, just to flesh out the musical bits.

The rhythm guitar part really emphasizes the drums and bass anyway, thus making it more of a groove tune than a standard, pop formula type of song. The lyrics take up only about the first third of it and the rest is just an excuse to do what musicians love to do… jam.

Lyrics

Pilgrimage to the mountain,
On through a hurricane
Going to pray for my family,
And for those who lay in the clay
I don’t know who will hear me
But I will cry on the wind
Grant me strength and compassion
Give me self-discipline

Oh, the pressure and the pride, now
They can split your skull
When your best ain’t enough, now
All you can do is let go
A thousand years’ wisdom
Will set it all straight
A fool’s minute will erase it
Ah, but that is the Way

I was tied to a tree
And whipped like a dog
It’s where I learned to be free
And to trust in God
In the center of the mountain
You will find a ring
When you wear that piece/peace
No man’s words will sting