SOU’WESTER EVENTS!
See what’s happening during your next stay or plan a visit around our free live music, workshops, wellness offerings and more!
“Kingsbery’s guitar and Sherman’s piano roll languidly along like a tumbleweed passing through town as the pair takes turns singing lead and duetting. Their voices shine on their own, but together there’s added soul to the rich tales they tell.” -Seattle Weekly
“Evening Bell is Ballard honky-tonker Davidson Hart Kingsbery’s twangy new venture with pianist Caitlin Sherman. Together with drummer Jason Merculief, the group perform classic country duets that sound something like Tammy and George dubbed over the soundtrack to a Sergio Leone spaghetti western.”
– AMERICAN STANDARD TIME
Evening Bell’s dark and haunting songs have all of the passion and tragedy of a broken howl under the high desert moonrise. Part western psychedelia, part northwest rock ‘n roll, Evening Bell is the new collaboration between Ballard-songwriters Hart Kingsbery (Davidson Hart Kingsbery) and Caitlin Sherman (Slow Skate). The duo quickly became a full band with Jason Merculief (Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter, Sera Cahoone, J. Tillman) on drums, followed shortly by Aaron Harmonson on bass, and newest addition Olie Eshleman (Corespondents) on pedal steel. They have recently shared the stage with established roots acts such as Ha Ha Tonka, La Luz, Barna Howard, Banditos, Howe Gelb, Jessica Lea Mayfield, The Moondoggies and Alela Dianne.
This Round Robin Showcases:
Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Ike Fonseca has been engulfed in the Pacific Northwest music scene for almost 2 decades. With his own brand of americana mixed with folk and rock Ike has been described as “good time’n whiskey drinking music for all ages”. An upcoming 5 state tour is scheduled starting in April in support of the new album. The self titled record will be featured on vinyl with digital download.
“[SHOEGAZIN’ COUNTRY] The term “shoegazer country” is hardly the first thing that comes to mind when talking niche music genres, but it remains an apt description of the warped soundscapes and distorted tremblings underlying Hearts of Oaks’ latest LP, New England. Though much of the record teems with the countrified familiarity introduced in quaint opener “Used to It Now”—from the gentle fingerpicking and delectable pedal steel to frontman Nate Wallace’s Dylan-like delivery and apparent relationship struggles—later tracks bludgeon you with heavier elements.” – Brandon Widder-Willamette Week
The band Denver: Paste praised their 2012 self-titled debut’s “perfect tunes,” while KEXP hosted a live session and proclaimed, “sweet harmonies and tight arrangements abound.” Statements like these become all the more relevant with their upcoming release, Rowdy Love, as Denver teamed up with Earley and Adam Selzer (M. Ward, Norfolk & Western) for their first trip to a proper studio. Recorded live in just two days at Selzer’s Type Foundry Studio, Rowdy Love certainly showcases all the endless chops at Denver’s disposal.
This workshop is currently full with one person on the waitlist. Thank you.
Join us for a brief nature walk along the beach to gather natural items (shells, & rocks) for our weaving. Return to our lodge to learn about handspun Japanese paper cords, koyori, and then coil, twine and loop cords around stones and beads to create a small shallow bowl or wall piece. Also learn Japanese knots and basketry embelishments to decorate smooth water worn rocks. Bring your own rocks or come gather them with us!
Donna Crispin has been weaving baskets and other fibers arts for almost 30 years, and has taught workshops all over the Northwest. She hopes to pass on her basketry experiences to as many people as possible, and inspire others to pursue a craft or artistic form of expression to enrich their own lives.
All art supplies provided. Please bring a sack lunch and/or snack. Hot tea and coffee provided.
Suggested donation $30 – $40 and includes materials – what a bargain!
Workshop for students ages 16+ and geared for beginners and beyond. Max # of students:12.
Please RSVP souwesterlodge@gmail.com or 360 – 642 – 2542
We are located at 3728 J Place, Seaview, WA 98644
Donna Crispin will be joining the Sou’wester for a week as an Artist-In-Residence before her workshop in April.
image © 2011 Ben Moon
Welcome Lost Lander!
Before she died, Matt Sheehy’s mother used to tell him about a dream she had about Lost Land Lake—a place she spent part of her mid-western childhood. That dream inspired the name of the Juneau-born, Portland-based songwriter’s band, and her memory is imbued in Medallion, their second album. If DRRT, the group’s first independently released album, was about the confluence of nature and technology, Medallion, its latest, concerns dualities – experiences of love and loss, impermanence and longevity, death and rebirth.
Grand Lake Islands & Snowblind Traveler
“Grand Lake Islands’ sound is something like a midnight drive under the bay of country western stars.” Alt Citizen
Grand Lake Islands is led by songwriter Erik Emanuelson, a Connecticut native who moved to Portland after leaving his career as an English teacher in New York City to focus on music. Their debut LP, “Song From Far” featuring band members Bob Reynolds (drums), Joseph Anderson (bass/keys), and Evan Krogh (guitar) was recorded during Portland’s bleakest months following a sea change that occurred in Emanuelson’s life. His expressive tenor recalls Nashville Skyline era Dylan and delivers lyrics soaked with stark emotional landscapes. Recorded mostly live, the album moves from extremes of ambient texture to more traditional folk-country grooves. The songs break into wide-open brightness with sparkling guitar and swelling lap steel before being swallowed again by interludes of dark, aerial distortion. With one eye to the darkness drifting over the horizon and one eye on the light coming over the other, “Song From Far” is a snapshot of a sky in motion.
Snowblind Traveler, Long Island born songwriter Matt Dorrien, plays the song of the common man. His music is inspired by the rolling expanse of middle America, the fog and lichen draped cathedral of redwoods of the northwest, the lulling whisper of a New England blizzard, the sorely disappointed, the dearly loved, the true and honest, those who are lost and forgotten, the living, dead, and eternal. For those who have ever slept under a blanket of Big Sur stars and drank whiskey until you forgot your own name: This is for you.
Sara Jackson-Holman is a pianist/singer-songwriter based in Portland, Oregon. Emotive and deep, her style has been compared to that of Feist, Adele, and Lana Del Rey.
It was literally from out of the blue that Jackson-Holman was launched onto the national music scene. For the then 20 year-old Whitworth University piano and writing student from Bend, Oregon, nothing could have prepared her for the trajectory her life was about to take; propelling her from student life, to recording her first CD, to hearing her debut single “Into the Blue” (from When You Dream) close out the ABC hit show Castle in the emotional Season 2 finale, all in a matter of months. She has since released another album (Cardiology, 2012) and EP (River Queen, 2014), and her songs been used in episodes of the television series Hemlock Grove, Grey’s Anatomy, Bones, 90210, Pretty Little Liars, Orange Is the New Black, The Fosters, Switched at Birth, and more. Her third album, Didn’t Go To The Party, is scheduled to be released in the fall of 2016.
In addition to employing notable visceral and expert melodic acrobatics, the co-ed sextet of Loch Lomond distinctly incorporates the use of vibraphone, piano, guitars, mellotron, clarinet, flute, drums, bass, and other sonic treatments to foil the even more distinct and arresting voice of lead singer/multi-instrumentalist Ritchie Young. He’s able to switch from high-pitched fragility to alto thunder in the turn of a phrase, yet he knows the power of restraint intuitively, saving vocal tornadoes for emotional apexes buoyed by string swells and moving arrangements.
photo credit Hayley Young
Annalisa Tornfelt & The Tornfelt Sisters w/ Kjirsten Tornfelt + special guests
1st Annual TORNFEST
Annalisa Tornfelt is an Alaska-raised songwriter best known for singing and playing fiddle in Black Prairie. Her parents were orchestra teachers and the Tornfelt sisters grew up listened to mostly Handel and Disney. Singing harmony since the very beginning, Annalisa is proud to have her youngest sister, Kjirsten Tornfelt, opening this special night.
Photo credit: Jason Quigley
And a special treat – full moon asana on the beach after the show lead by Emily!
Hearts Gone South plays true, solid original country and honky tonk. Born out of an unfortunate tale of love gone wrong and ending in a stack of classic country-style hits.
Hailing out of Asheville, NC Hearts Gone South shoots straight from the hip and hits their target dead on. Lead by Tricia Tripp, with a cast and crew of all star country players, Hearts Gone South cranks out tear soaked ballads, heartfelt dance tunes and straight up solid country gold.