Desert Wind was the name of an Amtrak Railroad USA that combined Los Angeles with Chicago. Shortly before the decommissioning of this train connection on May 10, 1997, the Desert Wind Band was founded at the same time in the former station buffet in Basel.
The Desert Wind Band decided at the end of December 2016 to take a longer break. For this reason, no concerts are currently being played.
Bernie & Pit joined the "Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training EHB" in 1994 met in Zollikofen. From that point on, two guitars and two harmonic voices became reality.
What a pleasure to play with each other since.
The band name Desert Wind is protected by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property.
Owners of the brand name Desert Wind are Bernie & Pit (# 453877).
Thus, Desert Wind has set a memorial to this train line in her own way.
One of the biggest adventures in Desert Wind's band history was meeting Johnny Cash and June Carter backstage at the Worb Country Festival. Pit & Bernie will never forget this moment. There is a lot of inspiration for the further musical way.
Johnny Cash's double bass player took the strings in a Tupperware from the USA and then stretched them in the backstage zone to the provided contrabass.
The guitar case of June Carter also had enormous proportions. A huge aluminum flight case, a huge upholstery and a beautiful Gibson acoustic guitar. This guitar was made especially for June: Guitar by Gibson, Inc., Kalamazoo, 1967. Hummingbird model (15-3 / 4 "). Serial number 117003
We were also on a Mediterranean cruise with the Desert Wind Band with the MSC Melody (2500 passengers - 1000 employees). An Italian electrician from Genoa has one extra 110 VAC / 230VAC transformer mounted for us. We will never forget the night from Palma to Barcelona. The talks with Jens and Uwe Krüger (Krüger Brothers) about music history was legendary.