When he’s not on the road — and these days, he’s definitely not on the road — Max Gomez splits his time between his beloved hometown of Taos, New Mexico, and Los Angeles. He received critical acclaim upon the release of his debut album Rule The World (2013, New West Records), and his subsequent EP, Me and Joe (2017, Brigadoon Records), contained a freshly minted classic, “Make It Me,” which gained over two million listeners on Spotify alone.

Today, Gomez is focused on finishing his second album amid a touring hiatus imposed by the worldwide pandemic. But waiting to release one song in particular seemed an impossibility.  A traditional folk song first recorded in the thirties, “He Was a Friend of Mine” has been covered by many legendary artists, including Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and The Byrds. Gomez’s version features newly written lyrics that comment on historical and contemporary racial and social injustice, with powerful lines like “for not to kill a man, to take the righteous stand, now, I will take a knee.”  

And as a budding performer, Max apprenticed in the rarefied musical micro-climate of northern New Mexico, where troubadours like Michael Martin Murphey and Ray Wylie Hubbard helped foster a Western folk sound both cosmic and cowboy.  Gomez has assumed stewardship of that lineage by producing the Red River Folk Festival, a boutique event held annually in late September in the musical mountain village of Red River, NM.

Judging by the company he keeps, Gomez is positioned to emerge as a prominent voice of Americana’s next generation. He has shared billing on hundreds of stages with stalwarts of the genre like Shawn Mullins, James McMurtry, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Patty Griffin, and John Hiatt. His classic-and-contemporary reading of “He Was a Friend of Mine” proves the point.

Day 1: We will meet at 9am at Bode’s General Store in Abiquiu, NM (meeting places), after which we will take a scenic 1 hr. shuttle to the put-in. Our drive will feature vistas of the craggy peaks of the San Juan Mountains, the massive Brazos Cliffs-over 3000 vertical feet high, and the village of Tierra Amarilla, the center of Reies Tijerina’s land grant revolt of the l960’s. Our launch point is at El Vado Ranch, a rustic, riverside fishing resort. The Chama River immediately whisks us away through a series of swift riffles and into the evergreen-lined canyon. We enter Chama Canyon Wilderness and negotiate Aragon Rapids (Class II). Our camp will be on an old high-water bench, under shelter of ponderosa pines and Douglas firs. After a delicious supper everyone will settle in around the campfire for laughter, music and good times!

Day 2:  Enjoy a very leisurely morning beginning with a hearty, hot breakfast. A song or two to get us going and we are of down the River. Hike up any of the numerous side canyons or to the top of Navaho Peak for a spectacular vista. We will arrive at camp early for more relaxing camp time, riverside music and great food.

Day 3:  We will encounter some longer, steeper rapids and multi-hued sandstone cliffs up to 1000′ high. Emerging from the canyon wilderness area, we observe a quiet zone as we pass the Christ in the Desert Monastery. Now begins the lively whitewater run (Class II-III) into the headwaters of Abiquiu upper Reservoir. Our take out at mid-afternoon, enables us to return you to your vehicles in Abiquiu before 4:00pm.