THE STORY BEHIND DESERT ROAD
I love Far West Texas, and I wanted to create a fragrance that embodied the boldness and complexity of the region.
My initial thought was West Texas oil fields. The contrast of man vs. nature. Fire and petroleum against the comforting, familiar fragrances of the desert. I thought a lot about Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood.
But when the fragrance came together, there was this initial burst of what smelled to me like diesel exhaust, and my visions of oil rigs evaporated into the many times I have driven across the Trans-Pecos. This fragrance became more about the desolate southwestern highways. The hum of the engine and the dust. The sun-faded leather and heat mirages lifting from the blacktop.
The petrol note gives people pause. Is this going to smell like gasoline? It’s not. It’s more of a quick burst of diesel — like a big rig just fired up the engine and rolled out of the roadside diner at the exact moment you stepped outside into the waning daylight. It quickly gives way to dusty and green notes of desert shrubs and cactus blossoms. And then it settles into a worn leather — like a dependable pair of cowboy boots — vetiver, and baked earth.
Desert Road is about dissonance — the push and pull of forces at conflict with each other that somehow result in something entirely unexpected, yet familiar. Two things that are at odds with each other end up stabilizing each other.
I love this fragrance. I hope you do, too. Keep on trucking.
Mike Lawson
Beardbrand