Sonoma County musicians create 'Out of the Fire' CD to benefit victims of 2017 wildfires

Newer fires have blazed across California since flames ravaged Sonoma County in October 2017, but for many who live here the healing process continues, and no one should underestimate the curative powers of music.

Over the past year, musicians both near and far have written and recorded songs inspired by the wildfires, but none have more authentic local flavor than one of the newest. “Out of the Fire,” created in response to last year’s conflagration.

Recorded at Prairie Sun in Cotati, the CD features some of the county’s best beloved longtime local musicians, including Sarah Baker, Volker Strifler, Levi Lloyd, Danny Sorentino, Willy Jordan, Eki Shola, Gary Silva, Johnny Campbell of The Pulsators, Allegra Broughton of the folk duo Solid Air and Last Record Store co-owner Doug Jayne, among others.

The album’s contributors will gather Sunday at the Sally Tomatoes venue in Rohnert Park for a live concert performance, with all proceeds to go to the Out of the Fire Benefit Trust Fund for the replacement and repair of musical instruments lost or damaged in the fire.

“We’re starting with two school districts that lost or have damaged equipment,” Baker said. “Then we’re going to have an application up on our website, outofthefirebenefit.com, for people to apply. If they seems like they deserve something, we’re going to give them either money to buy something, or a replacement instrument or equipment that we have collected.”

Original tunes include Baker’s title track, “Out of the Fire,” as well as “One Day at a Time” by Strifler, “Start All Over Again” by Sorentino, “Best Things in Life” by Campbell, “A Place Called Home” by Jayne and Shola’s “Marching On,” which features melted forks from her fire-devastated home used as percussion instruments.

“We wanted to have an album that had a healing vibe,” Baker said. “The songs are trying to be more uplifting and healing. That was our goal.”

Mooka Rennick, founder of Prairie Sun Recording, initiated the CD project and recruited Baker and engineer and musician Allen Sudduth, who lost his home in last year’s wildfire.

“I’ve been pretty much behind the scenes all this time in the music business,” said Sudduth, 66, a Santa Rosa native who has worked extensively as a engineer and recording session musician in the greater Bay Area. “I play mostly guitar but also drums. Whatever instrument needs to be played in the studio, I can cobble up something.”

Suddeth and Baker already had been talking about a recording project when disaster struck.

“Then the fires happened,” Sudduth said. “That project Sarah and I had talked about got put on hold, and kind of rolled into this project. The three us of sat down and started talking about making an album. We wanted it to be as live and spontaneous as possible, because the feel and emotion are the most important aspect. There’s a lot of hope in there.”

From the start, the emphasis was on using local musicians, Sudduth and Baker said. The recording’s roster includes Steve Kimock and his band Zero and a group of singers dubbed The Fire Choir for the project.

“Mooka called Allen and me and said, ‘We need to do something,’” Baker recalled, “and of course, we instantly wanted to do something. The three of us produced the album. We made a list of these incredible musicians that we all knew because we’ve been here for so many years.

“I think this is the most amazing music community I have ever experienced,” said Baker, 75, who has lived and worked in Sonoma County since 1976. “There’s so much support and love from everybody. The instant we started calling people, everyone jumped right in, and wrote songs for the project. Everybody, including the engineers, donated their time to this.”

The album was recorded last November and December, not long after the Sonoma County fires, and was released at a party last June at Prairie Sun.

“It’s a labor of love, and we hope that we can really help people,” Baker said. “Not everything gets covered by insurance, and musical instruments are expensive. We just hope we can make a difference.”

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 707-521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@danarts.