Canyon Mountain Melodies
is a unique form of folk music composed by Mike Stinnett and his daughter, Theresa. Both have always had a fondness and talent in music.
Equipment in this image: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (Paid Link)
Their first recorded compositions together began when Mike needed some tunes for his carving videos on YouTube.
Here Mike is using an old guitar, but later he upgraded to a Taylor AD17e (Paid Link) series, which is one of the best guitars that he's had.
Their original song, Doin' What I Want to, was one of the first songs recorded. There wasn't any huge planning in making the song, just a "wing it" that turned into one of Stinnett Sticks most iconic tunes.
The song is used for light-hearted moments paired most of the time with Pearl's antics.
This song, which was on our CD, has just recently been added to our online collection for sale. Canyon Mountain Melodies can be purchased from our website. We have also added two new songs, Whispering Pines and Whistling Carver. Each song can be purchased separately or all at once through the album.
Our favorite Banjo player, Jered Gillispie, makes many of the fantastic tunes that we use for our Stinnett Sticks YouTube videos. We had the honor of meeting Jered last summer and he and Mike had fun doing a little plunkin' together.
You can preview the songs available for download here.
After finishing the Collared Lizard and Cholla Cactus walking stick, Mike got right back to work on a rattlesnake staff that he had roughed out earlier.
The stage he's at right now is adding paint to the snake's scales. His next step will be staining the staff. Lastly, he will apply a protective coat of polyurethane to the whole stick.
We'll give an update next week and hope to put this walking stick in the shop soon!
Pearl continues to act as quality control expert and helps to advise Mike on how he can perfect his techniques. Haha!
Earlier stage with Mike, wood burning the scales into the snake.
She's also a good watchdog, and is always on duty to protect him from cats, squirrels, blue jays, and the occasional jogger.
Spring is finally here and we hope you all are outside enjoying it!
