Kris Deelane, a red-haired, red-lipsticked old soul from California, continues to rock the forest at the 55th Oregon Country Fair. She’s performed with multiple acts over the last three decades and her huge voice will once again bring a variety of pop, rock, funk, soul and general “angst” (her word) to multiple stages on Friday and Saturday for OCF.
Deelane will first play with Adam East, who she has been performing with for at least 35 years, “or 36 years. Maybe 37,” she says. They met in California in the late ‘80s coming from very different music scenes. Where Deelane was a punk in LA, East was a Canadian playing mod rock. The two picked some acoustic guitars and ended up playing the folk scene as a duo, touring the country playing festivals and coffee shops until they eventually ended up at OCF in 1995 (after applying to perform for six years).
Their first few years at the Fair, the two were “wide-eyed kids” who had “so much energy,” as Deelane describes their 20-something selves. When they weren’t playing on an OCF stage, they would bring their setup to play next to food booths and art stands, and any other vendor “who was OK with it,” she says.
“It was just such a joy because I’d be sitting there playing and watching all these awesome costumes go by, you know, just beautiful people everywhere,” Deelane says. “I mean, we just could not get enough of it. And we were like, ‘We never want to leave.’ So now we’re there as much as we possibly can be.” This year, they will be performing on Friday and Saturday on the Blue Moon Stage.
East and Deelane’s set features mostly original music that encapsulates both performers’ musical tastes and talents, with a solid balance between Deelane’s angsty rock songs, and East’s catchy pop tunes. Though they will be performing this year with several more band members to form a full group, the bill will simply say “Adam East and Kris Deelane,” because in true Fair jamming fashion, “we just grab anybody and kind of throw them up there on stage with us.”
Some members of this year’s group are also in Deelane’s other band, Kris Deelane and The Hurt. Because how does an ‘80s LA punk naturally progress in the music scene? By starting her own Motown revue, of course. In 2014, Deelane’s former bass player told her that she had a voice for soul and R&B, and offered her a gig at the club he worked at if she could put a group together.
Remembering her parents’ records of The Supremes as a kid, Deelane assembled a 10 piece ensemble of musicians, including a horn section and motown-style backup singers, with matching outfits and synchronized dancing, that she calls the “Lady Parts.”
Since then, Kris Deelane and the Hurt have opened for Brian Wilson, the Motels, John Doe from X (who she was so excited for, being an ’80s Punker himself) and hung out with and opened for Joan Jett. They have performed all around the Pacific Northwest at festivals, fairs and concerts alike. “I can’t believe it’s been 10 years,” she says. “It still feels like a new project to me.”
The upbeat, danceable Kris Deelane and The Hurt play a repertoire of hits and deep-cuts from soul and R&B groups, ranging from Dr. John to Stevie Wonder, The Temptations to Etta James. They will be performing Saturday evening at the Hoarse Chorale.
Deelane can’t be more excited to usher in her third decade of playing at Oregon Country Fair. She has played a multitude of fairs and festivals alike, and has fallen in love with the “magical” atmosphere that comes with playing outside. “We get people when they are off work, we get them when they are away from politics, when they are just relaxing and having a good time and rubbing elbows with one another,” she says. “People fall in love at these things. People make new friends at these things… the music community creates more community by inspiring people.”
However, for Deelane, and many other acts, OCF is one of her favorite venues to ever be billed on. “I think Fair is very special,” she says. For one, she appreciates the OCF’s unique focus on art extended beyond music. “Fair brings so much more than just bands, there are all kinds of other performances, belly dance stages, children stages, it’s so charming.”
Yet, her passion for the event stems far deeper than just the acts themselves.
She says she keeps coming back to OCF because of “the hope that it gives me hope for humanity, that we’re able to do this, that we’re able to cooperate this much to create such a beautiful thing, even though probably no two of us alike.”
Coming back for year 30, Deelane awaits the Fair-wide positivity and optimism that is shown all around, from the showcased art, to the fair-goers willingness to dance and sing along to the music. “We are so lucky to have this opportunity,” she says. “It’s like magic. Seriously.”
Adam East and Kris Deelane perform 12:20 pm Friday, July 12 and 3 pm Saturday, July 13 on the Blue Moon Stage.
Kris Deelane and the Hurt will perform at 5:30 pm Saturday, July 13 at Hoarse Chorale.
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