Dog Trail by Jared Tailfeathers

A culmination of four years of work and research: Designing and building two new instrument designs based on traditional methods of making, recording a brand new album with those instruments and my other inventions, paint rock art upon the land influenced by traditional methods of making, and produce a 3-4 volume research book about the land and processes of Traditional Methods of Making (ongoing).

The first 100% solo album by Jared Tailfeathers under the Daring Nomads moniker. All songs written, performed and recorded by Jared Tailfeathers. All songs performed with Jared's Invented Instruments, with the inclusion of a different non-Jared-invented instrument with every song to coincide with the hints of colonialism that inserts itself into the traditional territory and into the overall concept story.

The album art is a star chart with the central cairn pointing in the four directions located at a specific location in Apitositspitzee (Spitzee or High River, AB) the top stone has the place marker of the Highwood Medicine Tree, the confluence of the Highwood and Little Bow Rivers, with pictographs representing trees and a bow and arrow. Also on this stone are two Dog pictographs representing the figurative and literal journey of the project with my two dogs "Dot" and "Chucky".
The 13 stones circling the central cairn represent the 13 Moons of the year. the two largest stones on the outside of the circle represent the exact locations from the central cairn of the sunrise and sunset of the summer Solstice with accompanying pictograph paintings.
It is a permanent public art installation in the town of High River, AB.

A concept album about storytelling: there is a young man sitting in his lodge on the land and with him is an ancient dog that has lived for hundreds of years, a guide for the man’s ancestors. He asks the dog to tell him old stories. (Seasons and moons)
She tells the man about the need for memory and to tie it to the land, something that has been here for thousands of years before the present day. His ancestor was once a young brave, he needed to prove his worth so he needed to follow the old ways and travel through his people’s territory and know the special and important places.
Visit with his distant relations, the other nations of his people. To visit interlopers who don’t recognize the relationship with the land and teach them harsh lessons if needed. To write songs of honour and document those places and his deeds along the way. (Dog Trail)
She would go with him for a year or the full 13 moon calendar (13 songs/tracks) from spring to spring. Circling the entire territory, he would see and participate with many important tasks, ceremonies and landmarks. First, interact with and participate in the important hunt of the Buffalo jump in his home clan’s land along the porcupine hills (Buffalo off the cliffs- inspired by head smashed in, old women’s Buffalo jump, pine coulee, Williams coulee, beaver valley, nose creek, the cowboy trail).
Then he rides eastward on the foothills and sees many animals and rivers like the bow, red deer and south Saskatchewan rivers (Foothills- Hillside Ride)
He sees and interacts with a moose crossing a great river (moose in the rushes)
He stops at the Majorville cairns/star chart to participate in star tracking (read the Stars)
He has a visit from an owl and has nightmares about newcomers and interlopers that he’ll need to prove his worth by either chase out or kill so that they stop stealing the resources and occupying the land without understanding her (night visions past Medicine Hat into the Saskatchewan territory) he travels on to the cypress hills to circle back and camps along the Harris lake.
He sees firelight near his camp and journeys through the nearby lake’s reeds to watch foreigners in their camp, he plans an attack and to steal horses. (Hidden in the reeds)
He follows them later and then attacks them. (Counting Coup)
He journeys further southwest and along the Rocky Mountains and watches a group of big horn climb. (Waterton area)
He finds a deep red canyon where he sings and gathers red ochre for painting. (Red Rock Canyon)
He follows the canyon into the mountains and paints his story on the wall as the dog finishes her story. She also tells him that there are more stories to tell of where he went, that there are more places. (Carve the Rock, paint the stories)
The young brave tells the Dog what he wishes to do with his life, now that he has heard the long story. (Nomad -inspired by all the special places in the territory and observing the traditions).

Most Daring Nomads work is Jared Tailfeathers with one or two collaborative musicians, with the exception of "Dog Trail" (All Jared Tailfeathers solo work).

Musically and thematically focused on improvised experimentation, Jared's Invented Instruments and unusual other Instrumentation. Often with an overall album story/narrative.