Falling Apart in Ensenada
Jason Hannan is at it again, this time releasing one of his own songs on his Frederick-based label, Waiting for Lester Records. Featuring local legend Dominic Cicala as co-writer and co-vocalist, “Ensenada” is a Southwestern-tinged country song about a chance encounter between old friends and a tight-lipped retelling of good love gone bad.
Ensenada (the city) sits on the Pacific Coast of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. It’s a tourist town, right on the water, and barely 70 miles from the US-Mexico border. “Ensenada” (the song) sits in a murky present, over which the past casts quite a shadow. Hannan and Cicala’s protagonist found more than cerveza and comida in Mexico - he “met a girl in Ensenada” and “gave her all [he] had to give.” A line like that in a country song usually means things aren’t going to end well. Sure enough, as predicted, the story continues with a descent from bliss: “and when it fell apart, I lost my will to live.”
The song is one half of a dialogue between old friends, and notably zero clues are given as to the cause of the relationship’s demise; even the timeline is unclear. One might speculate whether that means they’re friends who perhaps take each other’s word and don’t pry into details, or maybe they’re just old drinking buddies. Or perhaps our sincere-sounding protagonist is hiding something, but the story does not provide an answer to that question either.
“Ensenada” may tell the tale of a troubled man, but the song has a breezy, unhurried quality. Hannan deftly handles the lion’s share of instrumental performances himself, including some tasteful mandolin work (an unexpected touch of the American Southeast in this Tex-Mex scene, or perhaps a clue that the song’s mysterious protagonist hails from somewhere in Appalachia). Washington, DC and Frederick bluegrass stalwart Howard Parker provides excellent support on pedal steel with a wonderfully expressive solo. Parker delivers a classic, crying pedal steel, full with percussive pluck and acrobatic daring. The relaxed rhumba groove holds at a perfectly balanced tempo to support the melancholy in the story, while also allowing just a little bit of Ensenada ocean air and sunlight to come through.
In respectable country music fashion, the song concludes with things still looking grim for our protagonist, who wishes he was “back in Ensenada, at Recinto's sipping on a beer.” Instead, he is “sitting now and wishing [he] was anywhere but here.”
“Ensenada” was released on April 18, 2025 and is part of a planned album of duets.