Moon Dreaming

Russ Hopkins & Jerry Palmer

Engaging, cinematic instrumental ambience.

"Haunting." — Bob McDonnell, Berthoud Weekly Surveyor

“ ...the first impression is one of Indian Qwali music mixed with Tibetan chanting and a dash of Eastern European flare. “Moon Dreaming” captures the essence of those worlds and much more in these laid-back, acoustic-driven, instrumental wanderings.” —

Engaging, cinematic instrumental ambience.

"Haunting." — Bob McDonnell, Berthoud Weekly Surveyor

“ ...the first impression is one of Indian Qwali music mixed with Tibetan chanting and a dash of Eastern European flare. “Moon Dreaming” captures the essence of those worlds and much more in these laid-back, acoustic-driven, instrumental wanderings.” — Glenn BurnSilver, The Reporter-Herald

"If judging a book by its cover is a no-no, then ditto for a CD. In this case, I initially blew it with Moon Dreaming: A Dance With The Hermit, by Northern Colorado multi-instrumentalists and longtime collaborators Russ Hopkins and Jerry Palmer. I saw the orange, shadowy moon on the cover; I was a tad squeamish about the album title and a song called “Cat Dancing.” Visualizing a store packed with reeky incense, coffee-table Buddhas and middle-aged, ponytailed clerks, I thought, This is death by New Age, and it’s going to last more than an hour.

My mind pulled a U-turn after multiple listens, however. New Age is, like most genre titles, a ramshackle descriptor at best. Even so, the worst of what we call New Age presents a plastic, vague spirituality that often glosses over our organic, messy souls?

The seventeen instrumentals on Moon Dreaming, though they include New Age staples like background samples of chanting monks and thunderclouds, elude pigeonholing. Hopkins and Palmer, who have soundtracked plays for local theatre company OpenStage and documentary film projects, achieve a cinematic, engaging ambience. Though the album is packed with flutes, found sounds, keyboards, an oboe, folk harp and more, the acoustic guitar is the most captivating, especially on the pensive drive of “Mendacity” and the bouncy folk-blues of “Mandala.”

It would be a shame if Moon Dreaming became just another album to accessorize a yoga session, because the skill and subtlety here create a backdrop worth paying attention to." — Elliott Johnston, Rocky Mountain Chronicle

Read more…
0:00/???
  1. 1
    0:00/1:43
  2. 2
    0:00/2:13
  3. 3
    Swami 2:14
    0:00/2:14
  4. 4
    0:00/4:09
  5. 5
    0:00/2:33
  6. 6
    0:00/5:10
  7. 7
    0:00/1:54
  8. 8
    0:00/3:12
  9. 9
    0:00/3:29
  10. 10
    0:00/1:27
  11. 11
    0:00/2:17
  12. 12
    0:00/2:00
  13. 13
    0:00/1:27
  14. 14
    0:00/2:08
  15. 15
    0:00/2:20
  16. 16
    0:00/3:04
  17. 17
    0:00/5:09