SOU’WESTER EVENTS!

Grand Lake Islands & Snowblind Traveler

“Grand Lake Islands’ sound is something like a midnight drive under the bay of country western stars.” Alt Citizen

Grand Lake Islands is led by songwriter Erik Emanuelson, a Connecticut native who moved to Portland after leaving his career as an English teacher in New York City to focus on music. Their debut LP, “Song From Far” featuring band members Bob Reynolds (drums), Joseph Anderson (bass/keys), and Evan Krogh (guitar) was recorded during Portland’s bleakest months following a sea change that occurred in Emanuelson’s life. His expressive tenor recalls Nashville Skyline era Dylan and delivers lyrics soaked with stark emotional landscapes. Recorded mostly live, the album moves from extremes of ambient texture to more traditional folk-country grooves. The songs break into wide-open brightness with sparkling guitar and swelling lap steel before being swallowed again by interludes of dark, aerial distortion. With one eye to the darkness drifting over the horizon and one eye on the light coming over the other, “Song From Far” is a snapshot of a sky in motion.

Snowblind Traveler, Long Island born songwriter Matt Dorrien, plays the song of the common man. His music is inspired by the rolling expanse of middle America, the fog and lichen draped cathedral of redwoods of the northwest, the lulling whisper of a New England blizzard, the sorely disappointed, the dearly loved, the true and honest, those who are lost and forgotten, the living, dead, and eternal. For those who have ever slept under a blanket of Big Sur stars and drank whiskey until you forgot your own name: This is for you.

Sara Jackson-Holman is a pianist/singer-songwriter based in Portland, Oregon. Emotive and deep, her style has been compared to that of Feist, Adele, and Lana Del Rey.

It was literally from out of the blue that Jackson-Holman was launched onto the national music scene. For the then 20 year-old Whitworth University piano and writing student from Bend, Oregon, nothing could have prepared her for the trajectory her life was about to take; propelling her from student life, to recording her first CD, to hearing her debut single “Into the Blue” (from When You Dream) close out the ABC hit show Castle in the emotional Season 2 finale, all in a matter of months. 
 She has since released another album (Cardiology, 2012) and EP (River Queen, 2014), and her songs been used in episodes of the television series Hemlock Grove, Grey’s Anatomy, Bones, 90210, Pretty Little Liars, Orange Is the New Black, The Fosters, Switched at Birth, and more.  Her third album, Didn’t Go To The Party, is scheduled to be released in the fall of 2016.

In addition to employing notable visceral and expert melodic acrobatics, the co-ed sextet of Loch Lomond distinctly incorporates the use of vibraphone, piano, guitars, mellotron, clarinet, flute, drums, bass, and other sonic treatments to foil the even more distinct and arresting voice of lead singer/multi-instrumentalist Ritchie Young. He’s able to switch from high-pitched fragility to alto thunder in the turn of a phrase, yet he knows the power of restraint intuitively, saving vocal tornadoes for emotional apexes buoyed by string swells and moving arrangements.

photo credit Hayley Young

Annalisa Tornfelt & The Tornfelt Sisters w/ Kjirsten Tornfelt + special guests

1st Annual TORNFEST

Annalisa Tornfelt is an Alaska-raised songwriter best known for singing and playing fiddle in Black Prairie. Her parents were orchestra teachers and the Tornfelt sisters grew up listened to mostly Handel and Disney. Singing harmony since the very beginning, Annalisa is proud to have her youngest sister, Kjirsten Tornfelt, opening this special night.

Photo credit: Jason Quigley

And a special treat – full moon asana on the beach after the show lead by Emily!

Hearts Gone South plays true, solid original country and honky tonk. Born out of an unfortunate tale of love gone wrong and ending in a stack of classic country-style hits.

Hailing out of Asheville, NC Hearts Gone South shoots straight from the hip and hits their target dead on. Lead by Tricia Tripp, with a cast and crew of all star country players, Hearts Gone South cranks out tear soaked ballads, heartfelt dance tunes and straight up solid country gold.

Pete Krebs is an American musician from Portland, OR best known as a member of the punk-pop band Hazel, and for a split record with Elliott Smith. Krebs was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame in 2013 along with his band mates from Hazel.

Growing up splitting time between south suburban Chicago and a lake in Southwest Michigan, Brian Bovenizer has always felt the push and pull of the city and the country. This dynamic is apparent in the lyrics and in the airy western groove of the band. While packing the traditional instruments you might find from many country bands, (pedal steel, twangy lead guitar, upright bass and drums) the Koala Cowboys take a loose, off-center approach to the genre.

Residing in Astoria, OR since 2009, Bovenizer has found a peace of mind and home near the ocean. Studying the songwriting style and wit derived from artists such as John Prine and Dr. Hook (Shel Silverstein), Brian has teamed up with a heavy-handed, light-hearted band that carries a vibe the like of masters, Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen.

Together, with James Greenan (Cedar Shakes), Jeff Munger (Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside), Luke Ydstie (BP, Hook & Anchor, and also Luke Ydstie) and Olaf Ydstie, the band looks to put out their first recordings early this Summer.

Barna Howard was born and raised in a quintessential Midwest town. His youth in Eureka, Missouri was pure Americana – the sort of childhood that inspired E.T.-era Spielberg – baseball cards in his bicycle spokes, flying freely down Main Street and through neighbors’ backyards.

photo by Vincent Joseph

The songs on Barna Howard’s second album, Quite A Feelin’, ruminate on his relationship with home. Now entrenched in Portland, Oregon, many of the album’s tracks immortalize and reflect on the Eureka he once knew, while others focus on the relationships that define his new home out west. Small town life has long been celebrated in country and folk music, but Barna’s knack for capturing his own deeply personal nostalgia resonates in a rarely universal way.

“A delightfully intimate affair, Barna’s 2012 self-titled debut showcased an array of delicately finger picked odes to love and loss. Steeped in traditionalist folk of yesteryear, Howard’s voice and delivery echoing a young Dylan circa 1964 just before he made the leap from protest to (accidental) punk.” Rich Thane / 13 MAY 2015 – thelineofbestfit.com

Audios Amigos is an instrumental muscle car filled with guitars and hot sauce…

Audios Amigos are an instrumental, guitar fueled musical entity, who drive between the lanes of surf, country, latin, soundtrack, garage…etc etc. They consistently bring a high energy live show that will induce voluntary and involuntary movements of the arms, legs, and any other bodily attachments. They often wear mariachi or classic western inspired suits, however authentic suits are impossible to find in Portland Oregon (especially on a musician’s budget), so the band has made their own homespun versions. The Amigos love surf music, however they are not primarily a surf band, they traverse all styles of instrumental music with experience and reverence…they have shared the gigs with Red Fang, Sir Richard Bishop, Bob Log III, The Pork Torta, Pierced Arrows, Southern Culture on the Skids, The Reigning Sound, The Chop Tops…you get the picture, a wide berth of musical styles!

Welcome Lonesome Leash opening for Nick Jaina.

Nick Jaina is a musician and writer from Portland, Oregon. His most recent album, Primary Perception, was released in April 2013 on Fluff and Gravy Records. As the Portland Mercury said, “I’d feel embarrassed describing Nick Jaina as a genius outright, and I’m sure he’d hate that too, but it’s so tempting– because he is so clearly the real deal.” He is a co-founder and musical director of the Satellite Ballet and Collective in New York City. He has composed the music for three ballets and three contemporary dances with that group, featuring dancers from the New York City Ballet, Ten Hairy Legs, and Juilliard, performing at the Baryshnikov Center and the Joyce Theater. Their most recent performance was two sold-out shows at Brooklyn Academy of Music in May 2014. Of that show, the New York Times wrote, “[The] pure, pungent, earthy music for strings, piano, and percussion… was the most physically bracing part of the night.” He released his first book, Get It While You Can, a work of non-fiction, through Perfect Day Publishing in January 2015. It is a finalist for the 2016 Oregon Book Awards.

Lonesome Leash is the solo moniker of Los Angeles-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Walt McClements. Known for previous involvement in Dark Dark Dark, Hurray for the Riff Raff, and Why Are We Building Such A Big Ship?, McClements, as Lonesome Leash, channels all of his musical experiences into a lean and gorgeously messy solo affair.