Sedona Pop Culture

If you want to see what Sedona looked like before it became a destination town, watch just about any old western. Here Hollywood icons share screen time with the likes of Coffee Pot Rock, Bell Rock and Thunder Mountain. Some of the best are Broken Arrow, starring James Stewart, the original 3:10 to Yuma, starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin, and Angel and the Badman, starring John Wayne and Gail Russell. Local legend claims the Duke and his lovely co-star carried on a torrid on-set romance. There are photos of them canoodling at the historic Cottonwood Hotel. For a good airplane read, try Greg Lilly’s Derek Mason Mystery, Scalping the Red Rocks. Lilly, a former resident, so thoroughly captures the town’s personality and culture that a favorite game among the locals is guessing who the characters are based on. If you’re looking to update your iPod playlist, add Sedona-born Michelle Branch’s "The Spirit Room," named after a popular saloon in Jerome, and anything by Maynard James Keenan. Keenan may be best known as lead singer for rock bands Tool and A Perfect Circle, but around these parts he’s a wine-maker. He owns Merkin Vineyards and Caduceus Cellars and produces wine as rich and complex as his music.