Singer-songwriter Steve Poltz’s flight from Denver to Los Angeles was cancelled. He then rented a car to drive the distance with his partner on tour, singer-songwriter Grant-Lee Phillips. I caught them on the phone just as they were re-writing “Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” for their Mother’s Day gig in […]
The Belfry
Posted inMusic
Source Suggests 4/15-4/22
Shawn James & The Shapeshifters Shawn James & The Shapeshifters fulfill the promise their name suggests by shifting sound with every album. While maintaining the same rock and roll musical momentum, the band can play softer, more folky and soulful songs like “Pendulum Swim” from their Deliverance album. Their most recent album, The Gospel According […]
Posted inMusic
Jostling Your Nervous System
The Quick & Easy Boys interrupt your mundane daily routine with blaring guitars
The Quick & Easy Boys like to do things their own way—with a smirk and a wink. Originally coming together in Eugene 10 years ago to play funk music, they put their own twist on the style and decided to come out every night dressed as cowboys. “The biggest problem with white kids from the […]
Posted inCulture
Picks 3/11-3/18
thursday 12 Dearly Departed WORDS—A good book can transport you to another time and place. Return the favor and bring your favorite (deceased) author into the present at this tribute to authors of yesteryear, organized by the OSU-Cascades Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing program. Readers will channel their favorite writers in word and in […]
Posted inCulture
Picks 2/25-3/4
thursday 26 Back from the Dead BLUEBRASS—No one plays by the rules anymore. But that’s fine. As a result, we come across a new musical portmanteau at least once a week. This week’s winner: blue-brass, a fusion of bluegrass and brass band. Think Tom Waits meets Louis Armstrong, with the lyrical sensibilities of Johnny Cash. […]
Posted inNews
PICK: Loudon Wainwright III
thursday 30 Loudon Wainwright III FOLK—Reading Loudon Wainwright’s resume will make you feel like a failure. He’s a Grammy award winner, Dylan-esque songwriter, humorist, film score composer (Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up), father of musicians Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright, has had songs covered by Johnny Cash, Bonnie Raitt, and Earl Scruggs, and has parented 26 […]
Posted inMusic
Source Suggests 5/21-5/29
The Source Suggests Hillstomp Washboards and buckets provide the percussive backbone to this Portland blues duo, as Hurricane Henry picks out syncopated simplicity on guitar and howls down the devil. It’s just hard to tell if Hillstomp’s warning against Satan or summoning him with its ruckus. (DJC) 8 pm., Fri., May 23. The Belfry, 302 […]
Posted inMusic
String Theory
Steep Canyon Rangers is as good supporting as on its own
The cell phone service is cutting in and out as the Steep Canyon Rangers roll down the highway in their home state of North Carolina. Between headlining its own tour, serving as the backing band for comedian and banjo virtuoso Steve Martin and musician Edie Brickell for an average of 50 dates a year, and […]
Posted inMusic
Blues Muse
Tommy Castro owes his new barebones album to an
education in modern blues
Once inspired by the likes of Wilson Pickett, Ray Charles and B.B. King, then an inspiration himself, 58-year-old, Bay Area singer/guitarist Tommy Castro has come full circle and is now energized by the new crop of younger blues artists. And that influence sprawls all over his latest album The Devil You Know. According to Castro—who […]
Posted inCulture
Our Picks for 2/6-2/12
friday 7 Mt. Bachelor Apres Ski Bash FIRST FRIDAY—The Mt. Bachelor Apres Ski Bash series continues with two on-the-verge-of-the-big-time Portland bands: The ghostly harmonizations and ethereal, yet rocking beats of the trio Cabin Project, and the peppy goth pop of The Genders. (For a full review of The Genders, see page 18). 6 – 9 […]
