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For many, Sara Watkins will forever be associated with the bluegrass group Nickel Creek. This is understandable considering how popular the band was, and that Watkins spent almost 20 years playing fiddle with the trio she helped found when she was only 8 years old, but Watkins has been blazing a solo trail for the last six years straight into the midnight sun. Continue reading
When Grammy-nominated bluegrass act The Infamous Stringdusters were looking for a producer for their new record they naturally picked … a hip-hop veteran? You read right, but don’t worry longtime fans — the Stringdusters aren’t rollin’ in Escalades or rappin’ about their bling’d out grills, though I wouldn’t put it past the iconoclastic group to try. Continue reading
On May 14, just days after The Bad Plus shook The Shedd, another youngish ensemble that’s reinventing jazz for a new era, Refuge Trio, plays the University of Oregon’s Beall Concert Hall — where the trio’s pianist, former UO piano prof Gary Versace, once dazzled Eugeneans a decade ago. Continue reading
Spirit Family Reunion is part of a long line of musicians based in New York City while playing the music of rural America. Like Dave Van Ronk, Bob Dylan and The Holy Modal Rounders before them, Spirit Family Reunion brings youthful energy and enthusiasm to antiquated sounds; screeching fiddle, unschooled harmonies, quavering mandolin and chugga-luggin’ freight train rhythms blend with the production value of a band busking on a Brooklyn sidewalk. Continue reading
Tom Van Buskirk and George Langford do whatever the hell they want. With Javelin, the pair of musicians explores a variety of sounds, channeling influences from across the spectrum of musical genres. “We were never interested in making a tight, recognizable sound,” Buskirk says. Continue reading
Rebecca Loeb is a fresh-faced and breezy songwriter with the voice of a pop star. Her sound ranges from indie Americana to confessional ballads to cabaret-style waltzes — encompassing the quirky whimsy of Regina Spektor, the rootsiness of Patti Griffin and the dry wit of Randy Newman, who is an all-time favorite of the young musician. “I love the way he puts himself into his characters,” Loeb says, “and writes so authentically from so many different voices.” Continue reading
It’s been six months since Seattle hip-hop outfit Macklemore and Ryan Lewis played their sold-out show at the McDonald (pictured above) and they’re already back, headlining at Matthew Knight Arena on May 4. Is the thrifty (“Thrift Shop”) duo aware of the campus controversy this booking ignited after the ASUO originally allocated over 100G to Mallard Madness (a student-run concert series) to nab the show? Continue reading
There are many instruments out there, each with its own timbre, tuning and technique of play. You’ve probably seen or heard some of the weirder ones — dulcimer, tanpura, whamola, etc. — but the Frankenstein creation That 1 Guy brings to the stage will knock your socks off. It’s affectionately known as the “magic pipe,” and it ain’t hard to see why. Bashing at the thing with drumsticks makes a percussive drone, which Mike Silverman, the “1 Guy” in this project, uses to great effect in his fuller, more bass-heavy, freak-metal sound. Continue reading
What’s in a name? A lot, if your last name is Guthrie. There are few surnames so loaded with expectation, history and respect, and few people as deserving of that respect as Arlo Guthrie. Born in 1947, the eldest son of Woody and Marjorie Guthrie, Arlo seemingly had little choice but to enter the world of folk music, singing for the downtrodden. Arlo Guthrie first performed at age 13, and has had his lifetime to find his own path along music’s folky backroads. Continue reading
Seattle’s The Cave Singers came out of the darkness around the same time Fleet Foxes did. But while the Foxes are all angelic harmony and shimmering guitars, The Cave Singers offer a grittier, bluesy take on indie-folk; if the Fleet Foxes serenade you from the town square, The Cave Singers stomp and clap on the back porch with vocalist Pete Quirk mixing a gruff, unschooled, gospel holler to the mix. Continue reading