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Eugene has incubated more than its share of strong performers who either studied at the UO (the band Oregon, jazz singer Nancy King, Portland Cello Project founder Douglas Jenkins) or won early acclaim here (Robert Cray, Curtis Salgado) and moved on to greener pastures. This month brings a few once familiar faces back. Continue reading
When watching competitive music shows like X-Factor or American Idol, you expect the contestants are upstart performers. Often this is the case. However, when Seattle-based pop soul-singer Leroy Bell participated in the X-Factor in 2011, the other hopefuls likely didn’t realize what they were up against. The 61-year-old Bell (you read that right — 61, and he could take Lenny Kravitz in a hottie competition any day) has been in the music business since the ’70s. Continue reading
Eureka, Calif., was a bit toastier than Eugene when I spoke to Frank Hoier, the guitar force behind the band Crushed Out, along with drummer Moselle Spiller. Even though 42 degrees isn’t exactly summery, I could hear the sunshine in Hoier’s voice. Continue reading
If we’re going to be honest, the Decemberists hit their peak a while ago. This said, the macabre, folksy offshoot Black Prairie is on the up and up, and the group hits town on Friday. A completely separate project from the Decemberists, Black Prairie features some of the same members, but a sound all of its own: Blending strings, accordions and often virtuosic, swampy classical licks, it’s the sort of band that will make you want to lie down in the grass and watch the sunset. And when it’s dark, the romp and stomp can begin. Continue reading
Woven Hand’s David Eugene Edwards plays a different kind of Christian rock. The former frontman of 16 Horsepower deals in biblical imagery, writing in the antiquated language of the Old Testament, singing in a dramatic, fevered and shamanic baritone that recalls Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, Andrew Eldritch of The Sisters of Mercy or Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees. Continue reading
It’s time for Celtic music lovers to raise their glass for the return of Toad in the Hole, the band whose passionate fans succeeded in cracking the floor at Max’s Tavern during a St. Patrick’s Day show in 2005. After a six-year hiatus, punctuated by another well-attended St. Paddy’s Day at Luckey’s two years ago, Toad in the Hole is back and ready to prove that Celtic music and tradition is alive and well. Continue reading
The Del McCoury Band, Punch Brothers, the Steep Canyon Rangers and … Betty and the Boy? Josh Harvey (vocals, mandolin, banjo, harmonica) is the first to admit surprise that Betty and the Boy are joining the first-ever Mountain Song at Sea, a “best of bluegrass” cruise from Miami to the Bahamas featuring 12 major bluegrass acts, in early February. “We don’t necessarily play bluegrass,” Harvey tells EW, laughing. But he says the band does use some traditional bluegrass instrumentation — fiddle, banjo, mandolin and upright bass. Continue reading
The noise-o-meter has been used for decades in lieu of judges at Battle of the Bands events in order to ensure that the public is heard. This said, Friday night’s Bandest of the Bands at WOW Hall should be a wondrous display of democracy. And let’s not forget the music. Continue reading
In the past few years, Eugene’s Baroque music scene has blossomed beyond the annual Oregon Bach Festival. This month boasts a trifecta of early music concerts performed as closely to the styles, tunings and instrumentation of what the original composers intended. Continue reading