ALBUMS/NEW RECORDINGS
See Below the albums for "The Stories Behind the Songs"
"Tell Me A Tale"
The Stories Behind the Songs!
1. Maria's Cantina - a love story in a "catina" in my home state of New Mexico.
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2. Requiem to a Gentle Soul - a song I wrote for a friend of mine who passed away. What a "Gentle Soul" that I miss.
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3. Absent Companion - another song about a friend I lost to the "Great Flood of Tulsa" that inundated the downtown area. My "Companion" died trying to save another person in the flood.
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4. Devil Was Once an Angel, Too! - a song about an affair that did not last and the guy's wondering how things could change.
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5. Grandma's Underwear - If you knew my brother and sister you would find this even more humorous. We enjoy a good joke and would certainly have a good laugh at each other's expense, but with love!
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6. Blame It On Me! - I wrote this one after friends, humorously, were blaming everything on me. Just a twist from a negative to a positive of blame placed.
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7. This Old House! - This one is a story of two people who have seen some hardships in their lives but work their way through them together. Still the scars of life never completely heal.
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8. Dian - The story of how someone came into my life and healed a lot of pain. How we both suffered from "PTSD" but help each other past any of previous life's baggage.
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9. Give It Away - This song started out as a very angry poem at a time when I felt our unity was fading away. It is very strange how through the development of the song it turned into a positive message of giving away your love.
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10. Til' Then - I was thinking of how you convey to your love your forever commitment to assuage their doubts.
"Whistlin' at the Moon".
The Stories Behind the Songs!
1. Whistlin' at the Moon - This is the Title Song! I wrote this after my love and I were traveling down the road one night and I heard here whistling and staring out the window. I asked "What are you doing?". She responded "I'm just whistling at the moon!" and the rest is history. NOTE: The clarinet part is a tribute to when I got to play with Mr. Roy Showalter and his band playing "BIg Band" music in the early "70's". Thanks, Roy, for influencing some of my songs!​
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2. Purebred Oklahoma Cowboy - I wrote this song about my country roots in Oklahoma. It was inspired by my cousin, Jimmy Hurd! No matter what race, creed, color or belief you can still be a "Purebred Oklahoma Cowboy"! as long as you adhere to the "Cowboy Way"!
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3. Maybe I'll Cry - I wrote this song as a throwback to the early years of country music with such stars as Hank Williams that I listened to with my Dad, on Saturdays on the TV, in my early years. Just a song about lost love and remembrance and how we never really forget!
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4. Catalina - This song I wrote as a dedication to my New Mexico and West Texas background. Marty Robbins was a huge influence to the and some of my other "Tale Songs" of stories of the Southwest US.
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5. One Smoke Story - My father, Paul Hiser, kept a book called "One Smoke Stories" by his bedside for many years. The book was written in various short chapters that supposedly you could read while you started and finished a cigarette. (I don't condone smoking!!! Just a remembrance!) The title always stuck with me until I wrote this song a few years back! Thanks, Dad!
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6. Devil on my Shoulder (Angel in my Arms) - This is a companion peace to my song "Devil was Once an Angel, Too!" on my album "Tell Me a Tale". A song about how a good woman can save you after a life of hardships.
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7. So Qui Li - Much of my family resides in Oklahoma! Even though we are from New Mexico, my brother, Bill, used to break horses from back in Oklahoma for my uncles, turning them into working horses. While I have such little Cherokee blood in me to call me a "Cherokee" I wanted to pay tribute to that part of my kin who were both "Cherokee" and "Cowboy" (True Cowboys, not "All Hat, No Cattle!") So Qui Li means "Horse" in Cherokee. My understanding is that there is no exact word for "Goodbye" in Cherokee so I included "“donadagohvi” which means, “'til we meet again.”
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8. Come What Will! Come What May! - This song is one I wrote about my love and the commitment you make and what wonderful memories drove that commitment.
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9. Oh, Virginia! - Some folks say this is about a girl named "Virginia". Some say it is about the state, "Virginia". I'll let you decide. I was thinking of how a person sometimes leaves the place they love to explore the world but always has a longing to return someday. I should say that I did use a part of the song "Oh, Shenandoah" integrated into the recording of my original song "Oh, Virginia". "Oh, Shenandoah" is a traditional American folk song that originated in the early 19th century. The song was first sung by sailors and rivermen who worked on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers of America. The song was originally a tribute to the Native American chief of the Shenandoah Valley. It has since gained popularity and became known just as ‘Shenandoah’.
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10. Fire Burning in Heaven - Just a love story about how sometimes two bodies generate so much heat when in an embrace that (even though the "burning" is so hot you can hardly stand it") it still feels wonderful (like Heaven!).
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11. Girl from Skibbereen - I wrote this song as a dedication to my Irish background, along with another song called "Shores of Cara Dunne". Just a funny little "ditty" that sometimes when you are out at the pub you might let a wonderful opportunity slip away from you!
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12. Mason Jar - I found it very interesting that in my travels across the United States that I discovered that people would come up to me, whether in Detroit or San Francisco, whether in Chicago or Houston, and say "I used to stay out till mom called me home and I used to drink ice tea from a mason jar"! I thought I was the only one when I wrote this song of remembrances. A bit more about the references in this song...my grandparents, Thelma and Virgil Hiser, had a blue swing on their back porch. Myself, my siblings and my cousins would sit at my "Daddy VIrg's" feet as he sat on the swing and listen to him tell stories. It was a treat to be able to take a "swig" out of his giant mason jar that my "Grandma" had filled for him with Sweet...Ice...Tea!