So digging through my CDs the other day in order to find a CD that was not in it’s case (and still outstanding!), I re-found Campo Bravo’s 2006 release “Goodbye, Oklahoma”.

I proceeded to give it a spin and remembered why I purchased in the first place.  Good solid Americana.  From what I can gather Campo Bravo is a collection of musicians fronted by Mark Matos.  The group seems to have a bit of a roster of revolving and returning band mates that perform under the name “Os Beaches” currently.  Although Matos is looking to release a new solo outing by years end, he has released (I believe) 3 albums as Campo Bravo.

So I will move ahead with “Goodbye, Oklahoma” the middle child of the Campo Bravo family of albums — squeezed between “Songs for Messy Lovers” and “Denver Lights & Eagle Rock Dreamer”.  I personally like the middle child – doesn’t try too hard and has a little bit of guidance from that which came before.

With spurts of almost up-tempo Alt Country, “Goodbye, Oklahoma” often rests on slow, aching Americana ballads that I am quite fond of.  This caught my ears a couple of years ago as they (he) were (was) a label mate of the great J. Tillman (Tillman & CB have both since parted with the KEEP Recordings label).  I am not delving into either of the other albums from Mr. Matos for this post, as this is where I want to remember Campo Bravo – awesome down-tempo goodness.  When researching a bit for this post, I feel like this album/point in his musical career is past and he has grown beyond what “Goodbye, Oklahoma” is for me.  This album’s slowed down songs are the memories I am left with and they are the ones want to keep.

Two great slowcoustic tracks from the 8 track LP (of which, my CD is apparently signed by 5 of the 9 credited band members – Yay me!) are below.

If you wanted to catch up with Mr. Matos and his crew, you can always visit them here and on MySpace here.

Enjoy.

~Smansmith