El Vagabundo de Quetzalcoátl

In 2008 I became bored with the USA and went to live in Chiapas, Mexico. During the year I spent living and traveling thereabouts, I indulged a lifelong interest in several genres of Mexican music. I felt particularly drawn to the Corridos (traditional folk songs in a narrative storytelling style) that as a child I remember hearing my Grandfather play on his acoustic guitar. The corrido tradition, replete with heroic tales, legends, and myths that converge to paint a colorful and grandiose portrait of Mexican life, became the template for this album. "Corrido Revolucionario" is probably the most forthright example of this style: a historical drama told from the perspective of a Zapatista farmer during a battle of the Mexican Revolution.

The thriving indigenous element of Southern Mexico also lent itself well to the Luna Moth aesthetic, and provided the earthy, psychedelic backdrop that has become an integral aspect of what I attempt to convey when I write music. The title of the album refers to the supreme deity of the Aztecs and Mayans. Depicted as half bird, half snake, Quetzalcoátl's two aspects represent the duality of humankind- the snake half representing the physical, earthbound body and the bird half representing the spirit... The Feathered Serpent. The acoustic, low-bodied tones leading into soaring, ethereal guitar work is an attempt to evoke this indigenous cosmological conception, and there you have the significance of the title. And here I will stop before this description becomes anymore pretentious.

Lyndsie Annette of Glass Bird sings on "La La Luna"
Released in Feb 2010
Cover art by Clumsy Hands
Recorded in Norman, Oklahoma
All songs Copyright 2010 Joey Paz

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Mayfly Revival Records

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