The Cobre Valley Centre for the Arts, the 1906 building nestled in downtown Globe which was once Gila County’s courthouse, served as a key recording venue for Jude Valentine’s latest album, "Moon Goin' Down."
“I always wanted to record here, in one of these old buildings,” says bandleader Chris Mathews. “There’s such energy in them, especially the courthouse. I think it's the stone, the history, the ghosts.”
Which made it the perfect setting for a slate of songs that conjure historical figures with relevance to current day chaos. There’s “Caligula at the Heartbreak Hotel.” John Brown in “Walls of Graceland.” Mathews deems it a post-Americana story, equal parts falling apart and coming together.
“It’s a patchwork of different eras of American society, squeezed into modern times, laid on itself, kind of like an elegy,” he says.
Like the 1929 Delta blues song that inspired the title, “Moon Goin’ Down,” expresses a longing for something meaningful and frustration with societal chaos.
Mathews is the lead vocalist and writes all the music and lyrics. On this album, he draws on old songs in the public domain — “Wabash Cannonball,” “Worried Man Blues.”
“They’ll always be important. They are always going to resound.” he says “It’s the human condition. It doesn’t die. Just keeps getting found again and again.”
Accustomed to songs coming together on stage, Mathews recorded “Moon Goin’ Down” with longtime drummer Ray Alvarez, in as close to a live cut as they could. They performed in the third floor theatre, where they recorded most of the drum tracks.
Mathews tends to do something different with each album. He doesn’t want to get stuck in a genre or point of view. On this one, he plays the guitar, harmonica, bass, organ, synth, tambourine, mandolin and a bit of bongos. Fingers sore by the score of guitar solos, he pauses more between notes.
As a child, Mathews liked bluegrass music. His great grandfather traveled here from Appalachian Tennessee in the early 1940s — his wife had tuberculosis. Mathews’ grandfather was a young child. The rest of the family followed 2 by 2 on the train. Money was tight.
“It seemed like whenever rent was due, they lived somewhere else,” Mathews says.
Mathews spent his teen years in Globe. After living in Alaska, Payson and Bisbee, he’s been back the past year or so, doing the job he first loved at 18 — driving the Active Adult Center van.
While he still finds it fulfilling at 35, he and his wife and three children are heading back to Bisbee to renovate an old mansion.
Jude Valentine is available on streaming services. A vinyl release of “Moon Goin’ Down” will be coming, according to Mathews.
“I hope people like it,” he says.
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