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After a visit to California and Arizona Brett Baker commissioned Ralph Pearce to write a piece about the Wild West. Brett’s father is a keen enthusiast of the USA and in particular the Wild West. The composer writes: In my duties as The Salvation Army’s music director for the Southwest Division USA I travel around the vast area that makes up our Division advising training and encouraging musical groups at the various centres. In 2006 my wife and I were driving from Farmington, New Mexico, to Hobbs in the same state - ajourney of around 500 miles. On arriving in Hobbs I picked up an e-mail from Brett requesting me to write a solo. Being somewhat tired, I facetiously suggested to him that as I was in the city of Hobbs, I’d “write a country and western styled piece and would call it Four Miles from Texas, where we were at that moment”. Expecting a curt reply ‘not to be so foolish’, I was surprised to discover his liking of the idea since his father was a country singer. As a result this piece came into being and is dedicated to Brett and his father, Billy Baker.
Musically, the work is in the form of an Introduction and Allegro, The first section has a brief ‘cadenza like’ opening followed by a pastiche of an overly-sentimental ballad. The following melody is the subject of subtle variations before a linking passage quotes another well-known American tune leading into a realization for the soloist and band of Bluegrass fiddle music. This was designed to test the soloist’s virtuosity; there are places where the trombonist is literally fighting the instrument. Brett meets the challenges some twenty clicks faster than originally intended!
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