SOU’WESTER EVENTS!

Blair Borax is a Portland, Oregon based singer-songwriter, who writes raw and honest lyrically-driven folk songs that are as powerful as they are vulnerable; songs that make you think and feel and laugh and cry; songs that make you feel a little less alone. Blair Borax released her debut EP ‘everything is light work’ in May 2021 and is working on her next. You can find Blair writing in her bedroom, recording at Groundswell Studios, and performing on stages across Portland and beyond. 

With rich lyrics and a voice like molasses, Blair Borax makes music that moves you to the heart of being human, offers you a warm cup of tea, and invites you to stay a while. 

Kate Dinsmore is a singer-songwriter based in Seattle, WA. A dynamic performer and vocalist, Dinsmore brings her songs to the stage with an undeniable presence. She found her passion for songwriting when she returned to the Pacific NW after almost a decade spent in Oklahoma.
Her music is powerful and emotional, with influences ranging from Jazz to Rock to Americana. Dinsmore’s performances quickly gained a following in Seattle, allowing her to open for notable artists such as Colin Hay and the Dip.

Her voice is at one triumphant and intimate. The perfect soundtrack to dropping off the last of your ex’s stuff and driving off into the sunset.

Lucas Benoit : Presented by Sou’wester Arts

Born in McMinnville to an extended family of blue-collar musicians, Lucas Benoit is an inveterate song-maker and a founding member of the NW folk-rock favorites, The Hill Dogs.

Troubadour to the life sick, sidewalk prince of an invisible garden. Peter Pan meets Bob Dylan, they split a Mountain Dew. Donnie falls for Tina and it’s happily hardly after. Artful Dodger, a Midwest wanderer, stealing moments from a day, Lucas’s sing along choruses, jangling melodies and lyrics are junk drawers of metaphor and sweet treasures from the pockets of careless lovers. Tokens of wisdom scratched onto napkins by old friends. Lucas is at home with his arms wrapped round an old wood guitar and with paint and engine oil under his nails. His crooked smile and honest voice are doors and windows to the world.

Forest Veil : Presented by Sou’wester Arts

Forest Veil is the solo work of Portland multi-instrumentalist/producer Monica Metzler. Following the echoes of her elusive muse, Forest Veil makes mystical psych-folk that maps the emotional terrain of humanity and its place in the cosmos. Melding a voice that sounds like smokey quartz with psychedelic guitar riffs and enigmatic lyricism, Forest Veil’s sound evokes a haunting nostalgia for other worlds. Though she primarily writes on her own, Forest Veil records and performs with others. An avid guitarist for over 20 years, Forest Veil’s music showcases virtuosic guitar shredding and dynamic musicality.

​Forest Veil’s newest album, Solita, will be released on Spirit House Records on June 7, 2019. 

Solita, in Spanish, means “little lonely one” or “little alone one”. Forest Veil’s sophomore album is an anthem to just that; to finding your inner strength and standing alone. Recorded over the course of 2 years, Solita was arranged with dynamic intention that showcases the depth of Forest Veil’s musical landscapes and intricate artistry.

Metzler recorded the bones of Solita as a trio with Luke Hall (who also engineered and mixed the album at MVM Studios) and Chris Johnedis before overdubbing additional parts on her own. When Forest Veil was snowed in during the infamous Portland snowapocalypse of 2015, she challenged herself to write one song, everyday, for 10 days; the majority of these ended up on Solita. Forest Veil’s fierce guitar playing and potent lyricism are supported by a compelling interplay of drums and bass that give force to the honest storylines of love, loss and self-empowerment.

Arran Fagan : Presented by Sou’wester Arts

Arran Fagan is a folk musician based in Portland, OR. A product of the grassroots music movement of Southern Oregon, Arran has spent the greater part of his life pursuing music, creating wistful and evocative songs that explore themes beyond his age – love, loss, divorce, and the endless passage of time.

​Often compared to artists like Joan Shelly, Josh Ritter, and Nathaniel Rateliff, Arran Fagan has been working his way into the northwest folk scene for some time, getting his start playing countless coffee shops and house shows for college classmates and eventually opening for northwest favorites like Leif Vollebekk, HorseFeathers, Kris Orlowski, and Jeffrey Martin. Praised for his introspective lyrics and vivid storytelling, Arran has garnered a following in his native Oregon with his uncanny ability to weave the personal and universal.

In 2015, Arran recruited fellow University of Portland students Jack Pfeffer and Jonathan Wiley, and the three worked to perfect a sparse, melodic sound influenced by their individual backgrounds. Fueled by introspective lyrics and nostalgic melodies provided by the intimate combination of viola, bass, and acoustic guitar, his music explores themes of loss, growth, and the passage of time with fresh eyes. Arran’s third album, Weight of Time, debuted in January of 2018 to a sold-out release show and was followed by a tireless West Coast tour. Praised by outlets like half&half and Elsewhere for its powerful stories, cathartic songwriting, and ability to “[weave] concrete images and abstract feelings,” Weight of Time saw Arran establish himself as a surefooted and exciting fixture in the Portland folk scene.

The “Warmth / Death” EP was released in early 2019. For the duration of 2019, Arran was on hiatus while conducting a Fulbright Grant working as a secondary English teacher in a rural school in Sarawak, Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Returning to Portland in January 2020, Arran can now be found playing shows around the Portland area and is working on his next solo musical project.

Described as a “combination of Patty Griffin grit and Amy Winehouse grace” by American Songwriter, Portland-based Soul/Americana singer-songwriter Karyn Ann has been charming audiences across the US with her powerful vocals and emotive lyricism. Her debut album Into the Depths (2015) and subsequent follow-up Be Loud (2018) garnered critical acclaim and radio play, leading this once geologist now turned-road musician to gain a steady following along the West Coast and beyond.

She’s shared stages with Haley Johnson, Liam St. John, and Fox and Bones, as well as Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls (at the 2017 Women’s Redrock Music Festival), and has performed at the legendary Bitter End in NYC . Her work is featured in the award-winning full-length film Undeserved (2016), and most recently in the indie-short Second Story (2022), which has gone on to receive the “Gold Award for Best Acting Duo” by the Independent Shorts Awards, and ‘Best Romantic Short” by the IndieX Film Fest. 

Despite the pandemic, Karyn Ann released three singles (“Who You Were”, “Don’t Practice Law”, “Probably”) in 2020, and received notable recognition for her work. She was selected for the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Emerging Artist showcase, placed runner-up in the Red Lodge Songwriters Contest, placed TOP 100 in the singer-songwriter category of the Great American Songwriting Contest, and won second in the Bay City Arts Center Joe Wrabek Memorial Songwriting Contest. Additionally she wrote, recorded and produced an EP entitled- “I Am Not Yours” based on the works of early 20th century poet Sarah Teasdale, which debuted in March 2021. Currently, Karyn is working on new material for an indie-electric/synth rock EP titled “Consequence of Fear” slated for release in late 2022, and dropped her latest single “Wasting Time” on September 17th! Go take a listen!

Matt Mitchell (album release show) with The Holy Broke: Presented by Sou’wester Arts

Veteran songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Coykendall has been amazingly prolific over the last three decades or so. Currently most well known for his duties as a sideman, producer, and recordist via his work with M Ward, Blitzen Trapper, She & Him, Annalisa Tornfelt, & Tin Hat Trio, to name a few, Coykendall has been making his own unique outsider records since the mid ’80s.

Pony Hunt : Presented by Sou’wester Arts

Pony Hunt is a New Orleans based band that plays like a ghostly jukebox; hazy melodies with sweet, lingering waves of nostalgia.
Born in California, raised in Chicago, transformed by Oakland and set alight by New Orleans, Jessie Antonick’s heart and hands are continually consumed by her passion for songwriting, building, and creating space—an eternally braided compulsion for crafting and evoking emotion, for creating worlds where one’s spirit can roam free—where a wandering mind can find home.

Antonick discovered a love for music early in life in the live venues and record shops of Chicago.  Captivated by doo-wop artists as a child and thrilled by indie and punk rock as a teen, it was her discovery of classic American styles that inspired her to learn to play the guitar.  

Longing for the ocean air, she soon settled in Oakland, CA, living on a sailboat whilst building and repairing sails as the push and pull of the tides slowly found their way into her blood, then to the page, and finally to her guitar.  The rising and falling pulse of her heart and the chatter of her mind pushed her to create an elegant, transportable canvas cottage where she set in solitude to discover the melodies and rhythms passing through the light and upon the sea air.  Antonick soon discovered a new home in her ‘78 Chevy van and she followed the sound of the rushing Mississippi River down to New Orleans where she found herself humbled by cultural beauty and set ablaze with inspiration.

It was in New Orleans where Antonick began writing the new Pony Hunt release VAR!.  In VAR! she investigates the heart and mind entangled, looking to understand how to be at home with one’s self, exploring the dualities of mind at play within her journey of emotional connection, societal imposition, gender, lost identities and the lesser understood–– discovered variables amongst the seemingly ever still.