Eugene Weekly

It’s likely that the moment little William “Boz” Scaggs met a new friend, Steve Miller, at their highfalutin Dallas boys’ preparatory school, neither knew that a page was turning in American rock history.  Each of them, 15 years old, had messed around with guitars throughout their little-boyhood, and they found they shared an impassioned interest in the blues — a trait rare amongst their demographic that would inform their musical trajectories. Continue reading →

The now Nashville-based folk musician Mare Wakefield, along with her husband and musical collaborator Nomad, has had a pretty good year.  “We were finalists in two songwriting competitions at two pretty big high-profile folk festivals,” Wakefield tells EW. But what really excited Wakefield was the opportunity to meet folk-music icon and personal hero Judy Collins at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in New York.  Continue reading →

Talking to Adam Duritz on the phone is like watching nostalgia incarnate walk through the door. The idiosyncratic voice of the Counting Crows frontman is still as raspy and boyish as ever, a key to his charm. That voice helped define a post-Nirvana ’90s.  If you are old enough to remember that now seemingly quaint decade, you probably remember Counting Crows and how they blew up the pre-emo alt-rock scene — “Mr. Jones” and “’Round Here” blaring from every radio station in an age when that counted for something.  Continue reading →

The Eugene Symphony kicks off its 50th season 8 pm Thursday, Sept. 24, in style with a 20th-century American classic and a brand-new 21st-century composition by the West Coast composer who many hope represents part of the future of American music.  In 2003, Mason Bates (still in graduate school) received a commission from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and decided to include beats and other electronica elements. Continue reading →

Los Angeles band Period Bomb is an anarcho-feminist project recalling protest punk like Bikini Kill and straightforward, curled-upper-lip rock ‘n’ roll like The Runaways.  Period Bomb’s “Get Out Of My Life Creep” is a simple kiss-off to a boorish, controlling lover. The song features vocalist Cami Miami’s supple, Siouxsie Sioux voice moving over tightly wound power chords. Continue reading →

California-based progressive bluegrass group Front Country has a new connection to Eugene. “Our fiddle player [Leif Karlstrom] just moved up here,” guitarist Jacob Groopman tells EW. “I always like coming to Eugene. It’s a nice town.” Front Country is touring in support of 2014’s Sake of the Sound. The record features mandolin, fiddle and the hymnal quality of vocalist Melody Walker. The resulting sound recalls the chamber folk and bluegrass of Chris Thile and Punch Brothers. Continue reading →

Sister Sparrow and The Dirty Birds are a seven-piece “hard-soul” band based out of New York. Sister Sparrow vocalist Arleigh Kincheloe calls her band’s sound “high energy — very much meant to make you get up and dance and have a good time.”  The group comes to Eugene supporting its 2015 release The Weather Below, out now on Party Fowl Records. The record has a strutting, take-no-prisoners confidence.  Continue reading →

Bands come and go, whether it be the dramatic fallout of One Direction or the breakup and subsequent makeup of No Doubt. But there’s one band we can count on to stay with us through it all, (with tough love) guiding generations through horrifying high school years with “High School Never Ends,” a rollercoaster relationship with “The Bitch Song” or a crappy day with “Shut Up and Smile.”  Bowling For Soup has put a smile on our faces for 20-plus years, and the band isn’t easing up. Continue reading →

Not many band names are as accurate as Session Americana. The six-piece musical collective, made up of some of Boston’s best folk, rock and roots musicians, promises a gathering of down-home music. What the name doesn’t tell you is that Session Americana plays face to face in an Irish-style jam, which you can see up close and personal when the band comes to Tsunami Books promoting their recently released sixth album, Pack Up the Circus, produced by Anais Mitchell. Continue reading →