Before they began a jazz hero’s journey taking them across the world, Dana and Alden McWayne were kids working on an apple orchard. Working at SLO Farm in Eugene, the two brothers — who perform as Dana and Alden — remember the orchard’s owner playing the music of Brazilian singer-songwriter Marcos Valle.
It was an experience that introduced them to Valle’s music and a seedling of what would come years later: recording and learning Brazilian music from Valle for their new record Papa’s Boat.
“It was so inspiring meeting him and playing with him,” Dana says. “He’s 82 but still has this joy for music, like a kid who just picked up their instrument for the first time — he’s always looking for new ways to make his music different and explore new things.”
The McWayne brothers have a similar ethos. Growing up in Eugene, the two brothers recount a lifelong voracious musical appetite. They devoured the Eugene Public Library’s CD collection. They sought out mentorship from Eugene’s musical elders. They maintained a DIY approach to playing music, whether it was at a Jazz Station jam session or an impromptu afternoon of Santana covers at Eugene’s Washburne Park.
Dana and Alden have assembled a band of stellar musicians for the new album Papa’s Boat, released August 14 on Concord Jazz. The new album features two songs co-written and recorded remotely with Valle — an experience that Alden looks back on as a longtime dream come true.
“For Valle to see our music and what we’re doing and be so supportive of it — it was a push to keep doing what we’re doing,” Dana says. “Seeing the life of music that he’s been able to live, that’s like what’s the end goal for Alden and me, even as young people. I want to be in my 80s, looking back, and still be making music and still be trying new things.”
But the album is also a milestone of the two brothers realizing their childhood dream they had while in Eugene: to have a band, tour, record — all while living in New York City. On Sept. 14 at the WOW Hall, they bring the new album and band home to where it all started, in Eugene.
Eugene roots
Before the trip to Brazil or trying to make it in New York City, Dana and Alden grew up in South Eugene. Both went to South Eugene High School, and Alden is quick to shout out their Axe alma mater. Dana graduated in 2016 and Alden in 2019.
The two brothers had a musical upbringing because of their parents, but also because of Eugene’s art and music scene. They got bandstand experience playing at the early iteration of The Jazz Station’s jams, and they dove into CDs.
“Alden and I listened to everything growing up because our dad took us to the library literally every weekend,” Dana says. “We would just go through the different sections and just pick out any CDs that look cool. The Eugene Public Library CD section was our musical education.”
For Alden, that meant diving deep in tenor saxophonist Stan Getz’s catalog, a musician who helped popularize bossa nova in the U.S. At eight years old, Dana found his gateway to songwriting through Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde, leaving enough of an impression to log off online roleplaying game RuneScape, and focus on music instead.
As musicians, Dana and Alden found mentorship under Kenny Reed, an influential Eugene-based jazz drummer who died in 2019. Dana remembers going to The Jazz Station when he was 11, after playing saxophone for about six months, getting on stage to blow through the only song he knew at the time, “The Girl From Ipanema.” Getz recorded the seminal version of the classic bossa nova song with João Gilberto and Astrud Gilberto on the album Getz/Gilberto.
“Kenny took us both under his wing,” Dana says. “He was Alden’s first drum teacher and he taught us everything we knew.”
From there, the two learned from many of the Eugene jazz scene’s veterans, recording their first album at renowned jazz guitarist Don Latarski’s house and taking lessons from jazz saxophonist Joe Manis. “The Eugene scene really taught us everything that we needed to know to be able to do what we’re doing today,” Dana says.
This time the dream is on me
Now in their 20s, they both look back at the past several years as a path that wasn’t quite straightforward.
Dana first tried to make it in New York when he was 18. But it didn’t work out. And he found himself as an organic farm inspector in Oregon for several years.
“I kind of thought the door had closed to being a musician in New York, but that the passion for the music was always there underneath,” Dana says.
At 18, Alden left Eugene to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He graduated in 2023, but the program challenged his relationship with music. Aiming to become a jazz bebop drummer, he says he was knocked down by his peers’ talent and intensity and constantly comparing himself to others.
“I was trying so hard and things weren’t clicking,” Alden says. “Then the pandemic hit. I came back to Eugene. I worked on the apple farm and would go home, jam and play music at Washburne Park. And that’s when I felt like I reconnected with the joy of music, because I lost a little bit in Boston.”
When the brothers had their first show together in New York City, Dana called Alden, who was in the jungles of Nicaragua, to play a gig at Mercury Lounge. It was the start of getting together to play music again.
“The time isn’t always right to do something right when you want it,” Dana says. “But if you’re persistent and have the belief in yourself and are determined, eventually the time will be right.”
Don’t rock the boat
For more than a year, Alden says he and Dana stretched their musicianship to new levels. They explored new rhythms and recorded seemingly endless takes. There were tears and sweat, he adds. There were weeks during the process where they were recording so much, for days on end, to the point their closest friends wouldn’t see them.
“Papa’s Boat is the biggest undertaking we’ve ever put on our shoulders,” Alden says.
They recorded the bulk of the album in London at Malcolm Catto’s residence, the drummer from the popular England-based group The Heliocentrics. For about a month, they worked in Catto’s studio. The brothers recorded with the band that they’ve toured with for the past few years: Salim Charvet (alto sax, flute, synths), Andrew Mitchell (bass), Eli Torgensen (guitar) and Ebba Dankel (keys and vocals).
“That sound we formed on the road is something that then we were able to go into the studio and capture,” Dana says.
Working with Valle was a lifelong quest that began in a Eugene apple orchard and sparked because of a friend staying over at Alden’s apartment. Alden’s roommate Charvet had a friend couchsurf one night, who then spotted a Valle record on the wall.
“He’s like, ‘Are you guys fans of Marcos?’” Alden recalls. “Then we remotely recorded with Marcos after he heard our music. He seemed to be really into our music, he heard the Brazilian kind of soul and inspiration in it.”
Valle agreed to record two songs with Dana and Alden, an endeavor that took months. And when it all wrapped up, they went down to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to meet him and immerse themselves in the country.
“To have Marcos and the samba community welcome us with open arms was insane,” Alden says. “I anticipated more like gatekeeping, and for them to have their guard up musically and personally — but it just wasn’t like that. It was like they were just open books, and they just wanted to jam with us.”
What Dana and Alden found in Brazil was similar to Eugene: mentors passing down their knowledge to the next generation. Elders in the Brazilian music community, like Valle, know that this transfer of knowledge is fundamental, no matter the artform.
“It doesn’t matter that we’re just some boys from Eugene,” Dana says. “They see the love and respect that we have, that we’ve learned from all of Marcos’ songs, and we can play his songs and know his melodies by heart. For him, it must be crazy to have two kids from Eugene come in from the other side of the world and know his song that he recorded.”
Bringing it all back home
Every morning as a South Eugene High School student, Alden would run to make the Lane Transit District bus Route 28 for 7 am jazz band under direction of Doug Doerfert.
If that version of Alden could see where he’d be years later, he’d know all the practice, the early mornings, the DIY concerts in Washburn Park, the rigorous jazz camp at the University of Oregon — all the risks would pay off. “It was a lot of fun, but kind of intense,” he adds.
Their success story and forward motion on their musical journey paid off. It all led to Papa’s Boat and now a nationwide tour in support of the new album. Returning home to Eugene is how the two brothers want to inspire the next generation of Eugene artists and musicians to chase their passions.
“It might not work out on the first go, or it might not work out in the way that you think it will,” Dana says. “But I think if you stay determined and don’t let the world or people around you tell you that you can’t do it — it’ll work out eventually.”
But the new album isn’t just a way to rally the hometown that taught them to embrace their inner weirdo, Alden says. Studying with Valle is a continuation of a lesson they learned from their grandfather, whom the new album title Papa’s Boat honors. The two brothers learned from their grandfather a wanderlust and to embrace an authentic eccentricity. From Valle, Dana says he learned to never fall into the trap of being an “old man musician” and pursue art and music with an appetite to learn.
“I remember him saying, ‘Don’t ever let the old man musician get into you, where you walk into the studio and know exactly how things should be done and how things should sound,’” Dana says.
The brothers keep Valle’s words in mind with the notion of holding a zen mentality of keeping a beginner’s mind to drive curiosity. It’s a way to avoid any pre-existing beliefs and how things should sound and encourage them to step out of their comfort zones — whether in New York, Brazil or Eugene — and try new things in their musical life and keep growing.
“That’s really what makes me excited about making music going forward,” Dana says.
Papa’s Boat is available digitally and on vinyl via Bandcamp and streaming on Apple Music and Spotify. Dana and Alden perform 8 pm Monday, Sept. 14 at WOW Hall. Tickets $20 in advance, $25 day of and available at WOWHall.org.