Sierra Madre Occidental Sierra Madre Occidental The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through Northwestern and Western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America, Central America, South America and Antarctica. The Spanish name "sierra madre" means "mother mountains" and "occidental" means "western" in English, with these being the "Western Mother Mountains". To the east, from the Spanish "oriental" meaning
Our Mother the Mountain Mother the Mountain" did not sell in great numbers but reinforced his reputation as a "songwriter's songwriter". In the 2004 biopic "Be Here To Love Me" (its title taken from the opening track on "Our Mother the Mountain"), musician Joe Ely recalls first hearing the album after Van Zandt had given him a copy when they first crossed paths in Lubbock, Texas when Ely picked the singer up hitchhiking back to Houston from San Francisco in 1971. Van Zandt was carrying only his guitar and a backpack stuffed with records and, as a means of thanking Ely, gave him a