Eugene Weekly

Google the name “Russian Red” and you’ll come up with numerous links directing you to cosmetic shops. That’s because Russian Red is the stage handle of Lourdes Hernández, a Spanish woman who took the name from her preferred lipstick color.  Continue reading →

Phish hasn’t played Eugene since 1994. Hard to believe, but look it up: It’s true. One might think inheritors of the Grateful Dead’s status of jam-band Grand Poobah would go along with Eugene like Tevas and Odwalla. But alas, nary a tour stop here for 20 years.  Continue reading →

After bursting onto the music scene in 2013 with a stellar self-titled debut, New York-based The Lone Bellow are now preparing for the follow-up. And while the dreaded “sophomore slump” torpedoes the careers of many bands, guitarist and lead vocalist Zach Williams isn’t worried about the new album. “I really believe in the record,” he says. “I almost see it as a play with four acts, with three or four songs per act. I went through a really heavy situation while writing these songs, and I think it’s going to be a cathartic thing.” Continue reading →

Oregon’s greatest composer, the late Lou Harrison, often explained the difference between the music written on the American East and West coasts. “Out there” — meaning the East Coast — “you think of Paris and Berlin as cultural centers. Here we think of Tokyo and Djakarta,” he said. “We have a very strong connection with Asia. This is Pacifica, that’s Atlantica. They’re different orientations. I don’t think that there is a composer in the West who is not aware of that.”  Continue reading →

The Fab Four, Four Seasons, Four Tops, Gang of Four, Emerson Quartet, Takacs Quartet: Why do foursomes get all the musical attention? Everyone composes for string quartets and bands made up of two guitars, bass and drum. But in classical music as well as jazz and rock, trios offer more transparency and a lighter, often tighter sound. A trio of trios heading our way this fall reveals the power of three.   Chamber Music Amici Oct. 27, Wildish Theater Continue reading →

When a sleek, curvy, dark figure entered her life, Melissa Ruth knew her future would look different. She was writing songs for her second album, 2011’s Aint No Whiskey, when it came to her.  “I accidentally bought a guitar that blew my mind and changed my songwriting forever,” Ruth tells me over whiskey at The Barn Light. The guitar is a small-bodied black and brown 1958 Guild electric with a whole lotta mojo, Ruth says. “That guitar changed my life.”  Continue reading →

Rearrange some Steel Cranes songs, add a little fiddle and steel guitar, and you’d have some no-nonsense, woman-done-wrong country music.  “I write a lot of our songs on my acoustic and they often initially have a country feel to them,” says Steel Cranes vocalist and guitarist Tracy Shapiro. “We usually butcher things once Amanda [Shukle] is on drums and I switch to my electric,” she jokes. Continue reading →