6 “El Paso” Songs You May Never Have Heard Of…Until Now
Obviously the best known "El Paso" songs are the ones you know by Marty Robbins or Taking Back Sunday. One lesser known song that more people should check out is the one by Tragic Landing. All 3 groups have songs with El Paso in the title but there are more out there. WAY more.
The Vaccines: The West London indie rock band named one of the songs "El Paso", after they spent some time recording their album "Back In Love City" at Sonic Ranch in 2021. Possibly as a way of saying "thank you", "El Paso" was the 4th single released on the album a month before the album's release. So THANK YOU Vaccines are naming one of your songs after us. If you're curious about other bands who recorded in El Paso, you can see 11 of them here.
Boz Scaggs: You might know Boz with his work in the Steve Miller Band but he also had a very successful solo career. One of his lesser known songs name drops Juarez, 2001's "King Of El Paso". The song talks about one's journey to the border; the temptations you face & also the dangerous of never leaving alive.
Charlie Marie: The first of a few country artists naming their song "El Paso", Providence RI's Charlie Marie recorded this song from a breakup she went through, describing the song as a lesson she learned: "that hurt people hurt people". It's uncertain if Charlie has BEEN to El Paso, or if it was a spin on the Marty Robbins song, but her song IS named "El Paso". So on the list it goes.
Jenna Paulette: Named one of the CMT's Country Women of 2022, Jenna Paulette is certainly one to keep an eye on. Her single "El Paso" was released earlier in 2022 & the music video was filmed in the city named after the song, El Paso.
Clare Dunn: You may be familiar with this song as we've talked about 3 particular El Paso locations IN her 2020 song "El Paso". The Colorado country star wrote "El Paso" as a very emotional tune; and it's even more so stripped down...
Elton John: Oh yes. The Rocket Man himself, Elton John, has a song with El Paso in the title: "All The Way Down to El Paso". Originally this was a piano demo written in 1969/1970 during the recording sessions for his 2nd album, Elton John. It would've been lost to time, but it reappeared on the 2008 deluxe edition & now... we all can listen to Elton's journey.... all the way down to El Paso.
Honorable Mention - Flores "915": Yes it's not named after El Paso but it IS named after our area code. It's also worth mentioning that Flores is one of the VERY FEW local artists to have a Rolling Stones article written about her. So she's here as an honorable mention.
With El Paso getting mentioned more & more in the mainstream music, I hope to expand on this list in the future!