LESS HOSPITABLE TERRAIN, a collaboration with Michael G. Ronstadt, released 2025

This long in the making 10-song CD is now available. It contains six new collaborations between Z. and Michael, and includes two solo compositions by Michael and one by Z (Rumpelstiltzkin: Dead at 95). A bonus track, a pastiche of a traditional English ballad, is by Z. and acclaimed folk artist Zoe Mulford.

"Less Hospitable Terrain" is again a collection of diverse musical styles, some pure art songs. Most songs have the theme of traveling, some journeys are physical, some emotional. You can read more of my specific thoughts on this in my blogpost about the album.

The takeoff point is "Balalaikas," a lyric I wrote when I was headed out for my first real travel, after sticking to the East Coast for the first four decades of my life. The swell of anticipation, the wild fantasies of the unknown, the fear of what might be "less hospitable terrain" had me scribbling in my notebook while sitting in the airport, waiting for my flight to Dallas. Michael and I worked on the melody, and Michael developed a rich and driving sound for the music. My longtime friend Janice Ho agreed to sing this track.

"Painted Desert" is another lyric that came from that trip. I drove through the Southwest and stopped at the National Park site towards the end of the day, when visitors were leaving. I sat alone at a spot and felt like the last person on earth. Michael comes from the Southwest (his family is in Tucson), and had similar feelings about the Painted Desert from his own visits. This time the music and feeling are entirely Michael's, set to my long-ago lyric.

"Even Now" started as an improvisational Indian raga by Michael. It was an instrumental with no melodic line or subject, just music Michael was feeling his way through, experimenting with the form. I found a quick few lines about a legend featuring a thief in love with a queen, and imprisoned by her king. The song is the thief going through the night picturing -- over and over and over again -- one perfect moment watching the queen comb her hair. The beauty of the thought and his love accompany him in his journey through the long night. My son, Garrick Schultz, sings this one.

"A Thing Or Two" is a journey from a breakup, through sadness, to a new relationship; the subject of the song is music, and how it permeates our lives, how it shows up at the corners of our life experiences. It's a jazzy cabaret song, performed by Michael's wife, Serenity Fisher. It is one of my favorite bridges, expressing how music can say what we can't articulate in words.

"Me and My Purple Monkey" and "Naked Reprimand" are fun party songs. "Monkey" is meant to be taken literally -- not as any kind of metaphor; just a guy and his purple monkey who bring joy wherever they go. The other song comes from a comment my cousins made, that there really should be a song called "Naked Reprimand" -- this one is about the need for repentance when one has done wrong, and yes, hopefully, a delicious punishment.

"Rumplestilzkin: Dead at 95" is one of my most personal songs, and the music in this one is my composition. It started as a writing prompt, I was given the title and I quickly wrote 12 lines, but realized there was a bigger song hidden in them. This is my vocal, as I have been singing this song for years.

Michael contributes two of his own songs, "Tens of Dollars" about his life singing on the road; and "Seems So Sweet" about a fragile relationship.

The bonus song is a lyric I wrote years ago, "Inn of the Travelers Rest," an exercise to write in an "olde Englishe ballade" style. I showed it to trad folk singer/composer Zoe Mulford and we kicked around ideas. We never really finished it, but listening to our sessions years later, I realized all the pieces of the song were there (verse, chorus, bridge), and Zoe gave us permission to put them all together and finalize it. It's a delight to have it here, and this is also sung by Serenity.

I hope you will enjoy this collection. The Lyric Sheet is designed by Scott Wolfson of Original Brain Media and is available AT THIS LINK. It is 6 pages, letter size, and lovely to look at.

You can download the CD at Michael's bandcamp site. If you want a physical copy, click the Paypal link below; it will be $15 for the CD and $5 for shipping Media Mail; Michael or I will mail it out to you.