Santa Ana Winds (album)

Santa Ana Winds is an album by the American musician Steve Goodman. Goodman finished the album a short time before his 1984 death of leukemia, and it was released posthumously on his Red Pajamas label. The album was reissued by Omnivore Recordings in 2019.

Production
Santa Ana Winds was produced by Goodman. Emmylou Harris and Kris Kristofferson contributed to the album. The album cover was shot at El Mirage Lake. "Face on the Cutting Room Floor" had been recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. "You Better Get It While You Can (The Ballad of Carl Martin)" was recorded at Chicago's WFMT studio, with Jethro Burns on mandolin.

Critical reception
Robert Christgau called the album "a fitting testament to a likable artist who often went soft around the edges." The Chicago Tribune deemed it "a fittingly eclectic monument to one of the funniest, most intelligent and most courageous performers who ever picked up a guitar."

AllMusic wrote that the album "is closer to a country album than anything else Goodman would ever make, and the sad tales of 'The Face on the Cutting Room Floor', 'Fourteen Days', and "'The One That Got Away' are the ones that carry the most weight." Reviewing a reissue, DownBeat praised the "jazz-infused reading" of "The Big Rock Candy Mountain". MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide considered it to be Goodman's "best collection, produced just the way his music ought to be."