Jelly Bean Farmer is a journey back to our wildest dreams our hearts' hearts knew to be true as children before anyone told us otherwise. Before they were constrained by popular opinion of what is and is not possible or feasible in the name of security and practicality. Away with the societal ambitions and false dreams of fortune, name, and form and back to finding true childlike joy in weaving genuine dreams into life. A creating of value rather than a cheapening of selling them out for shallow gains.

It is a sort of children's album for adults. Not in the watered down, patronizing, pandering, condescending way we have come to associate with modern children's music, but in the way that it navigates the status quo of adult life and society with unadulterated clarity of perception and imagination.

Jelly Bean Farmer is about living the truest life, even if it means doing the so called impossible or going outside the bounds of what is considered to be known (into the unknown) to create and bring into being new realms of possibilities... Farming for jelly beans, fixing up that rusty old bicycle you found by the roadside rather than taking part in a buy-new throw-away society, letting dogs (our so called best friends that we treat like slaves) run free as the dignified and sovereign beings they are, living by our own rules and self determined disciplines, communicating with loved ones that have left this earthly world, returning to the truths we inherently and intuitively knew when we were young and the songs we heard (or perhaps made up), and sticking to our convictions no matter what or who tries to turn us around.

Thanks to my partner Lara, and Martina, Zuleica and Bronco for their boundless love, support, and inspiration; Zuleica for her artistic genius; Bronco for being the trustiest friend a man could ask for; “Waitin’ For The Call” is dedicated to Momo; thanks to Justin Uhlig for incepting “No Country For Good Dogs", Rowdy Randall for incepting (& of course Uncle Steve for inspiring) "Jelly Bean Farmer"; and Smiley, Fat Boy, and a fellow I met in Tucson whose name I can’t recall for their hand in writing "...That’s Why We Roll Smoke”. "Over the Waterfall" is dedicated to Karma, and "...That’s Why We Roll Smoke" to Vlad Smolnikov, wherever they may be. I’ll have a hand rolled smoke for the each of you next time we meet.

Songs & Stories Crafted, Sung, Told, & Fingerpicked by Eli Elkus

Album art by Zuleica

Photos by Lara

Barks & Growls on “No Country For Good Dogs” by Bronco

Produced by Eli Elkus, Rubber Tramp Records