SOU’WESTER EVENTS!

Combining boundless creative imagination with a deep reverence for American folk, blues and country music, Marisa Anderson’s guitar playing is fluid, emotional, dexterous and original. National Public Radio says Anderson’s playing  “exposes and hides the mysteries of American music”. Pitchfork calls her recent record, ‘Mercury’, ”Brilliant” and Wire Magazine says, “Her sound has strength in restless variety…Anderson’s playing is heartfelt and utterly American, free from grandstanding and steeped in respect for the old tradition.”

The Earnest Lovers are vintage honky tonk heartbreak serenaders Pete Krebs (Hazel, Stolen Sweets, Portland Playboys) and Leslie Beia (Copper & Coal, The Lowburners). An alliance forged from their mutual and devoted love of the golden era of country duets, the Lovers have set out to capture that classic sound and to invigorate it with new life in the form of original compositions. With one foot solidly rooted in tradition while allowing the other to two-step forward in exploration, they promise a sound as comforting as old whiskey and as compelling as that fancy new cocktail at the Sapphire Hotel.
Pete and Leslie’s many mutual friends have been surprised to learn that, although having circled each other for years in the roots music scene, they hadn’t officially met until early Summer 2014 under the dim lights of Portland’s favorite honky tonk, the Landmark Saloon. It didn’t take long to get going. Within a few days Pete was sitting in with Leslie’s side project, the Lowburners, and Leslie was jumping up on the mic at Pete’s solo, duo, and Portland Playboys gigs. A week-long river retreat solidified intentions, expanded repertoire, and got the wheels spinning for a new project. A month later, a debut was made and the duo is off and running, leaving happy memories and a cloud of dust, so thankful to have found their voices together.
Some uncanny and yet auspicious stars have aligned for the Lovers right from the get-go: the first meeting produced a literal Ring of Fire (you can ask us about that); the first $100 in the band fund came from a winning lottery ticket in the tip jar, and the first-ever gig turned out to be a surprise appearance at Portland’s beloved Pickathon! At this rate, expect no less from the Earnest Lovers than full-speed-ahead. Debut EP is slated for early 2015, and they plan to hit the road the following spring. Performing as a duo, trio, or full 6-piece band, keep an eye out for a bright Lovers star shooting across the western sky.

Come listen to the sweet county sounds of Denver.

The River Arkansas is the newest project of Mike Clark (The Ghost of Michael Clark, The Haunted Windchimes, The Sugar Sounds).  Named after the river he lives beside, this is a band made up of active musicians from across the front range.  Their first release, Golden Light, draws stylistically from all Clark’s past musical endeavors, joining elements of rock and roll, americana, soul, and gypsy folk.

Ages and Ages’ debut LP, Alright You Restless, was an ambitious, conceptual piece of sing-along, clap-along, stomp-along pop rock that vaulted the band into elite company. That first record pontificated upon the throes of isolation as a form of revolution, elated choral melodies anchoring shimmery guitars and tight rhythmic interludes throughout. The Portland conglomerate’s second album, Divisionary, is a lot of that, too; there are plenty of goosebump-raising hooks and uplifting crescendos to write home about. Their thematic scope, however, involved the excavation of darker inspirations than they’d previously explored as a band. Ages and Ages have undergone lineup changes and lots of peripheral personal battles and have somehow managed to internalize and later deduce how to navigate the avenues of their own lives in triumphant—and insanely memorable—song. In the process, they’ve come out with one of this year’s best all-around albums.—Ryan J. Prado (Paste Magazine)

Hip Hatchett is the songwriting project of Philippe Bronchtein.  Based out of Portland, OR, Hip Hatchett presents rustic, carefully orchestrated folk songs.  Like the songsmiths before him, Bronchtein places emphasis on the songs’ that revolve around loneliness, camaraderie, home and love.

Portland, OR based guitarist-instructor-singer-songwriter Noah Beck dwells in that umami place of subtle and powerful.  He is both disarmingly real and gently empowering.  With grande swaths of knowledge and a collection of technical skills that span genres, his panache for blending somehow doesn’t end up as a brown-grey heap, but instead is a colorful balance, a simultaneous immersion into rich planes of many.

Renee Muzquiz’ brisk guitar rhythms and colorful chord progressions set her apart from other singers-songwriters.  Her voice harbors a confident edge and a subtle natural vibrato that breathes a captivating theatrical like into her songs.  She has released two albums, Perfect Weather (2007) and The Clearing (2011).