Mike Fiorito's short memoir, Mescalito Riding His White Horse, inspired by Peter Rowan and his musical and spiritual journeys, efficiently packs Fiorito's interviews and personal experiences with Rowan and Fiorito's illusions and visions into fewer than 100 pages. The book's title evolves from Rowan's legendary song, "Panama Red." Panama red, Panama Red He'll steal your woman, then he'll rob your head Panama red, Panama Red On his white horse, Mescalito He comes breezin' through town I'll bet your woman's up in bed with Panama Red (Peter Rowan) Bill Monroe, Father of Bluegrass, once gave Peter Rowan some advice. "Follow the horse's hooves." The Rowan interviews begin with the Bill Monroe stories. "There's a gallop pace in bluegrass unlike any other form of American music," Monroe explained to Rowan. Bluegrass is hard and fast with rhythm, drive, and harmonies. Rowan left Bill Monroe to "find his own voice," but Rowan would still lean on the lessons Monroe taught him, Fiorito writes. "Bill taught me that music is very physical, all the way from trance dancing to crowding the microphone to sing a bluegrass duet. And Bill taught me to go for what he called "the ancient tones." (Fiorito 12) Page after page reveals Rowan's profound spiritual awareness as a Buddhist and the similarities between rural mountain home music and Tibetan music. In his Foreword, Rowan explains the global merging of stories, from the "African griots chanting the genealogies, to the Greek poets singing their epic tales, to the changed lineages of enlightened masters in the vast Himalayas, the blues, bluegrass, and rock and roll here at home, all cultures of our world share the great oral traditions carried like a sacred flame from one encampment to another, sharing." (1) Rowan illuminates how and why music is a living, breathing, creative element that spiritually moves us, which is why we connect to song mentally, emotionally, and physically. Our musical knowledge expands because Rowan is a master musician who explains it in layperson terms. "Like Tibetan music, bluegrass has a very footsy sound, earthy, and yet with spiritual overtones, both in the straight and sacred songs. They have a kind of longing, a yearning for transcendence." (14) Fiorito inserts himself into the book not to withdraw readers from his Peter Rowan subject but to expose the author's admiration for and fascination with his subject. In doing so, we, the readers, understand better why he "had" to write this book. It was a spiritual journey—an awakening. ~ Bluegrass Standard, https://www.thebluegrassstandard.com/post/book-review-mescalito-riding-his-white-horse-by-mike-fiorito

For those who don’t know, Peter Rowan is a bluegrass musician and composer from the US. For those who’d like to know more about Rowan they could do a lot worse than to read Mike Fiorito’s latest book called Mescalito Riding His White Horse. Fiorito has for some time now been interviewing musicians from around the globe, some of which have been published here on Shouts, and as a fan of Rowan’s work he managed to delve deep into the musician’s life, art and activism. Drawing from inspirations of Rowan’s musical adventures, the book becomes much more than a biography of Rowan’s life. Fiorito somehow manages to intertwine parts of his own life story, his interviews with Rowan, song lyric analysis and explorations of Buddhism. See also: Interview: Tibetan Artist Yungchen Lhamo Sings for a Better World It is not everyday one discovers Asian philosophy in the world of blugrass music but Fiorito manages to introduce those two worlds to the reader, and so much more, in a highly entertaining way. Woven around his interviews are fascinating happenings such as Fiorito’s dreams and a vision of the Dalai Lama, to mention a few. ~ Shouts Magazine, https://shoutsmusic.blog/mescalito-riding-his-white-horse-music-book-review/

Details in link ~ Dan Miller, Managing Editor at Bluegrass Unlimited. Published July 1, 2022. , https://bluegrassunlimited.com/article/mescalito-riding-his-white-horse/

Mad Swirl Magazine associate editor Fiorito explores his love for the work of famed bluegrass musician Peter Rowan in this genre-blending work of creative nonfiction. In the spring of 2021, the author had the opportunity to interview Rowan, who’s one of his personal heroes. The musician told the author about playing with the legendary Bill Monroe, who’s often called “the Father of Bluegrass,” in the early 1960s and also explained his interest in Buddhism and Tibetan music, which he says “shares a similarity with bluegrass. They’re both from remote mountainous areas populated by hill country people.…They have a kind of longing, a yearning for transcendence.” That yearning for transcendence infuses this book, which combines Fiorito’s research on Rowan’s oeuvre with his own musings. Dreams and visions sit beside accounts of interactions—some real, some imagined—involving Rowan, artists such as Yungchen Lhamo, Harry Smith, and Juan Carlos Pinto, and figures from Hindu and Buddhist cosmology. At one point, the author offers an account of his vision of the Dalai Lama asking about his young child: “When you look at your ten-year-old son, Travis, do you see every single moment of his being?” Buddhist master Padmasambhava and one of his students discuss Mescalito, a character from one of Rowan’s songs; Fiorito and Rowan meet to discuss spiritualism in a café in Sausalito, California. Accompanied by quotations of Rowan’s lyrics and words by other writers and thinkers, Fiorito’s prose reaches for a visionary register and frequently finds it, as in a dream sequence: “The [bodhi] tree gently waved in the wind. The tree’s motion slowly increased. Now swaying hypnotically, its branches curled like snakes. I could hear a song emerging from inside the tree, as if from its inner soul.” Rowan is an intriguing figure with a storied career, and Fiorito is a solid interviewer. Fans of bluegrass and Eastern philosophy will enjoy this work. ~ Kirkus Review, https://mikefiorito.com/f/kirkus-review-of-mescalito-riding-his-white-horse?blogcategory=Mescalito+

Published September 4th, 2022. Written by Rob Dickins, Founder/Editor at the Psychedelic Press. I first come across the Fiorito’s extraordinary writing in the pages of the Psychedelic Press journal, and his new book perfectly encapsulates his penchant for imaginative non-fiction. In 2021, Fiorito interviewed the outstanding bluegrass musician and songwriter Peter Rowan; a man he also describes as ‘a poet, magus, mystic, and mentor.’ What began as an assignment for a basic interview piece for a magazine quickly morphed into something else however, and Rowan takes on a Mescalito-type persona in this eventual narrative. Overwhelmed by Rowan’s deep alchemical knowledge of music and spiritual wisdoms, Fiorito voyages into the origins of music, with Eastern philosophy and dream-like sequences. The book’s title, of course, is taken from a line in one of Rowan’s songs. The musician has had a distinguished career, including playing with the legendary bluegrass musician Bill Monroe, and is described by Fiorito as the genre’s ‘international ambassador’. He also played with the likes of Clarence White and the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia. He was part of the Sixties generation, and ‘The world of new hope and change that Peter’s generation helped usher in seems to be fading in the rearview mirror.’ This illustrious cultural background, though perhaps fading, permeates the presence of the text. A vision of the Dalai Lama that Fiorito relates thematically encapsulates the book’s quickly changing deep-dives into the threads of that story, as ‘Pieces of history floated around me, like asteroids.’ Sections of interview delve easily between song lines and dreams, biography, and spiritual motifs—always grounded by Rowan's words. ~ Robert Dickins, Founder of Psychedelic Press , https://psychedelicpress.co.uk/blogs/psychedelic-press-blog/mescalito?fbclid=IwAR208QgQ4dhZDvMAVMtsKbOeTms3Cy0rxHRogHrQixRnwbPnM_W394iPmIQ

You did a great job with the book! Really got to the heart of Peter's vibe. ~ Christopher Henry, former member of the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band

Wow! It’s beautiful. I’m touched that you “got” it! I also really like how you amplify the actual locations of events. I’ve always considered the energy of the local landscape as a deep aspect of experiences there. ~ Peter Rowan