David Haerle

El Camino Sierra is my third full length album of original songs. The further I progress as an artist and songwriter, the more I realize my favorite songs to write are usually the personal ones that tell stories from my life or from the lives of friends and loved ones.

El Camino Sierra (or The Sierra Highway) is the historic name of Highway 395 which runs through the Owens Valley of California. The Owens Valley has been called Payahǖǖnadǖ by tribes native to the area and interpreted as meaning “the place where water has always flowed” or “the land of the flowing water.” With the valley floor having an elevation of 4,000 feet and mountain ranges rising on both sides to over 14,000 feet, it is the deepest valley in the United States. I’ve been going there since I was a young boy and it’s a place of renewal for me. The High Sierras, the White Mountains, the Ancient Bristlecone Pines: the beauty of this landscape never fails to lift my spirit, and El Camino Sierra is the way there.

Most of us experience firsthand how music can change outlooks, touch our hearts, and transport our imaginations to new and different places. I hope listening to El Camino Sierra can take you somewhere that refreshes and renews your spirit as its namesake highway has for me.