Listen to the full interview with Dave Stamey.
The tradition of the traveling musician goes back far in time, from the medieval troubadours to the more recent Californio era, when the vaqueros would strum their guitars and sing under the eaves of the oak trees at the Dana Adobe in Nipomo, as Juan Francisco Dana told it in The Blond Ranchero, explained the DANA Cultural Center’s Executive Director Marina Washburn.
The tradition hasn’t died out, though. Washburn said the cultural center is welcoming back cowboy singer and songwriter Dave Stamey for another benefit concert. Stamey volunteers his talents every couple of years for a fundraising concert, she said, and performs cowboy and vaquero songs, including several originals, one of which even mentions the historic sites’ namesake.
“When Juan Francisco Dana describes the travelers coming through the El Camino Real and stopping at the rancho, they’d have a guitar and sing along with performances around the campfire,” she said. “Music was a significant element of culture even at that time, and what Dave Stamey does is the same: It’s story telling with music, and we invite the public to come and be a part of that and the unique setting here.”
Stamey has been involved with the Dana Adobe in one form or another for decades. He lived in Nipomo not far from the historic adobe for a quarter century, Stamey said, and he found the place to be a unique and tranquil setting that brought the past forward into the present, from the undeveloped, rolling landscape to the aged building still standing among the oak trees.
“If you look across from the south side of the adobe, looking east, you don’t see any of the development that has occurred over the years, and the land just kind of falls away to the creek and then climbs again to the foothills,” he said. “And if you squint, which I did, then you can almost get the feeling of what it must have been back in the 1850s when Captain Dana had just finished building that wonderful home.”
A lifetime of working as a real cowboy, from roping cattle to breaking horses, has influenced Stamey as well. A voracious history buff, he is constantly melding his real life experience with his understanding of the past.
His original tune “The Vaquero Song” sings to the feeling that the past and the people are not that far behind. “Todavia estoy aqui, I am still here,” sings the long gone Vaquero named Juan Medina, who remembers “all the cattle, that belonged to captain Dana.” This style of declarative ballad has roots in the folk styles of Mexico, America, and Europe, all of which stirred together in the melting pot of vaquero life and culture.
Stamey’s treatment of the tonality or language of a song is directly related to what it’s about: the story and the people coming through the verses, he explained.
“It’s like architecture: form follows function,” he said. “If you’re writing about a simpler time or era, you’re probably going to go with an acoustic style and pretty basic ballad form. … You want to build a bridge to an experience for the listener, and you don’t want to get in anybody’s way.”
Though Stamey’s songs are certainly contemporary, they are steeped in folk idioms of the lone singer and guitarist. The tonality of flamenco guitar, cowboy swing, and honky-tonk blues blend, helping transport the listener to the time and place where a lone singer and guitarist may be the only option for musical entertainment.
Performing at the Dana Adobe is always a treat, Stamey explained, just due to his own personal relationship to the place. He hopes that whatever influence it may have on his performance comes through to the listeners, whether they know much about site’s history or not.
“I get a little deeper thrum when I sing that song in that setting; it’s a little more profound for me,” he said. “I hope it comes through in the performance; I certainly feel it.”
Contact Arts Editor Joe Payne at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 23-30, 2015.