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!
Nick Delffs : Live Stream presented by Sou’wester Arts
http://www.mamabirdrecordingco.com/nick-delffs
Nick Delffs is a seeker. He’d never identify himself that way. He’s unassuming and self-effacing, careful to discuss song meanings and biographical details without indulgence or melodrama. Delffs cut his teeth playing basement shows in Portland a dozen years ago, just before that city’s cover was irreversibly blown. It was a time when being musically ambitious meant impressing other local musicians. You were a joke, in that world, if you proclaimed yourself an artist or promoted your band with any zeal. So Delffs would probably find “seeker” a rather grandiose title.
But Nick Delffs is, in fact, a seeker. He’s an old-school rustler of the human condition; a tireless navigator of social and spiritual landscapes; a genuinely curious and wide-eyed, mankind-enthusiast. Soon after meeting him, one gets the impression that Delffs could be dropped in some far corner of the Earth and he’d not only survive, but he’d make a lot of friends—maybe even start a new band. In both casual conversation and his songwriting, Delffs gravitates to the universal. That’s his search. His life’s work is in the identification and removal of our shared illusions. And that is, largely, what Delffs writes songs about. Songs come to him when he’s “feeling detached from the world but totally in love with it at the same time,” he says. “Mostly they come when I am patient and I don’t need them or care about them too much.”
They happen to be pretty catchy songs. Delffs first emerged in 2003 as the frontman for the seminal Portland band The Shaky Hands, known for their jangly, pulsing and introspective songs and their high-energy live shows. The band would sign to the venerable Kill Rock Stars imprint and tour internationally with bands like The Shins and Meat Puppets.
The Shaky Hands went on hiatus in 2011, and the changes came fast and furious for Delffs. He released a stripped-down, self-titled EP as Death Songs. He became a father. He relocated to Idaho. He took odd jobs and worked as a landscaper. All the while, he was strengthening his musical chops by collaborating with artists like Luz Elena Mendoza (Y La Bamba) and Ali Clarys—both of whom play important roles on his new LP, Redesign.
Living in Boise, Delffs remained a beloved figure throughout the Northwest—traveling often and moonlighting in friends’ touring bands. Slowly, through collaboration and time off, the pressure of being a full-time songwriter subsided and a thrilling new confidence emerged in Delffs’ own work.
“I like to disassociate myself with being a songwriter,” he says. “I like to forget I even do it. In the past that would have freaked me out, but I have a healthier relationship with my songs now. It’s less codependent.”
Redesign is the first full-length album Delffs has ever released under his own name. He first shed the Death Songs moniker in 2015, when he unceremoniously dropped a four-track EP of fantastic story-songs simply titled Home Recordings, and last year Mama Bird released Delffs’ reworking of the traditional English Christmas carol, “As I Sat on a Sunny Bank”. But Redesign is a self-contained universe of songs that play with themes that, on the surface, seem at odds with one another: longing for nature (“Somewhere Wild”, an ode to off-the-grid living) and learning to take responsibility (“Song for Aja”, a sweet and percussive tune about Delffs’ now six-year-old son that recalls Cat Stevens and Paul Simon). Musically, these themes are stitched together by the album’s warm, organic production and Delffs’ playing—he’s behind every instrument on the record—but Delffs also connects those seemingly disparate dots under the heading of Redesign. Heading into wilderness provides the insight for dealing with life’s heaviness; the responsibility of being a parent is also an opportunity for endless imaginative self-exploration.
The title track “Redesign” was written during a rafting trip in Eastern Oregon. “I couldn’t go for the full three days, so I went for one day and hiked back to my car alone,” Delffs says. “It took maybe nine hours, and I had no shoes, and there were rattlesnakes. I took naps, I sang in caves. I felt like I let a lot of things go on that walk.”
A redesign means “to change out the parts of yourself that don’t work, or don’t serve anyone,” Delffs explains. “And if you are changing and growing, your relationships have to as well. It seems like redesigning our relationship with the world—and staying open to change and curious about the future—is more important now than ever.”
This is what you can depend on from Nick Delffs. In a world of noise and madness, he will use his music to try and scratch at something human and real. Something helpful. Nick Delffs is a seeker. He shares his discoveries. Redesign is his greatest gift yet.
Weezy Ford : Live Stream presented by Sou’wester Arts
Weezy Ford is a songwriter and musician from Portland, Oregon. She works alongside her partner, Mark Robertson, who produces and engineers her records with homemade analog equipment in his studio, Field Electric. In November 2019, she released her first full length record , Sugarcane. Bend Source’s Isaac Biehl remarks that “Sugarcane is really the perfect name for this record— you can hear the sweetness in Ford’s tone as she beams through fuzzy and granular mix of synths and guitar. . . Ford finds herself hovering in a space somewhere between garage rock and bedroom pop, stirring up what is quite a delightful mix to the ear.” In the fall of 2020, released a handful of acoustic songs titled All at Once, recorded in the intimacy of her home during the lockdown of the pandemic.
“…There is a profound sense of artistic and spiritual liberation throughout Sugarcane; Ford’s ta“…There is a profound sense of artistic and spiritual liberation throughout Sugarcane; Ford’s talents for recognizing them and using them to her advantage make for an engaging follow-up to her debut EP.” – Ryan Prado, Portland Mercury
“On “Shakey Knees,” Weezy Ford introduces herself to the world through a wall of distorted guitar and a shroud of vocal reverb. It’s a striking sound, reminiscent of the grimy rockabilly from her native North Carolina (think Flat Duo Jets with a hitch in its step). But the track isn’t without a few surprises, as Ford literally tap dances her way out of the song. It’s a risky and playful choice that ultimately pays off and leaves the listener wanting more.” – Jerad Walker, OPB
Arran Fagan : Live Stream presented by Sou’wester Arts
Arran Fagan is a folk musician based in Portland, OR. A product of the grassroots music movement of Southern Oregon, Arran has spent the greater part of his life pursuing music, creating wistful and evocative songs that explore themes beyond his age – love, loss, divorce, and the endless passage of time.
Often compared to artists like Joan Shelly, Josh Ritter, and Nathaniel Rateliff, Arran Fagan has been working his way into the northwest folk scene for some time, getting his start playing countless coffee shops and house shows for college classmates and eventually opening for northwest favorites like Leif Vollebekk, HorseFeathers, Kris Orlowski, and Jeffrey Martin. Praised for his introspective lyrics and vivid storytelling, Arran has garnered a following in his native Oregon with his uncanny ability to weave the personal and universal.
Mark Tegio + Lucas Benoit: Live Stream presented by Sou’wester Arts
Built to roam, singing songs and telling stories along the way. Mark Tegio’s songs do not help settle the dust of the wanderer, but rather, travel along side playing ode to a ramblin’ fever. He often credits the influence of Blaze Foley and Townes Van Zandt for his guitar picking and songwriting style. Still, while their influence shines through, it only acts to illuminate the sincerity of his own approach.
A native of San Diego, he came up being caught in between the highs and lows one may find in the southwest of California. Through all his journeys back and forth across the states, he now resides in Portland, Oregon…in his own words, “for the time being.” Just playing his own take on an amalgam of outlaw country, folk, and blues.
** Currently, this is scheduled not as a public event, but a live stream from the outdoor stage at The Sou’wester (weather permitting). If you are a guest staying with us, the show may be audible. *
RL Heyer: Presented by Sou’wester Arts
RL Heyer is native to Washington State, and has been a prominent fixture in the vibrant Seattle music scene for over 20 years. From his work as a freelance guitarist to producing underground records; from prolific compositions to music instruction, the common threads with RL can be described as quality, authenticity and joy.
You can catch him on stage with original bands like The Big Tooth, Your Sweet Action, and Happy Orchestra, hear his work as a producer for Karmic Unrest and Ben Bruce, or see him doing live improv at Seattle clubs like The Sea Monster Lounge. Whatever the case, you will be drawn in by his mastery of the guitar, soulful voice, and joyful spirit.
About 10 years ago, singer/songwriter Ezza Rose hitchhiked to the Pacific Northwest from Los Angeles, riding with semi-truck drivers the whole journey north. After graduating, Rose decided to make Portland her permanent home.“It seemed like a really accessible town for a creative person to live in,” Rose says.She’s currently getting ready to release her fourth LP, No Means No, which draws inspiration from the disconnect between language and intention. Growing up, Rose says her mother would use contradictory expressions like “no means no” and “sorry isn’t good enough” (which is also the title of a song on the record). These phrases were confusing to her, since one reinforces the power of words while the other implies that sometimes, they aren’t enough to merit forgiveness.In her own life, Rose feels like her words haven’t always been taken seriously. “When we disconnect the meaning from a word, it holds no value anymore and communication is gone,” she explains.No Means No is moodier than Rose’s earlier albums, like 2014’s Poolside and 2015’s When the Water’s Hot, which pull from her bluegrass influences. The driving force of Rose’s music, though, is still her voice, which sounds fit for a smoky jazz lounge.
Johnny Franco: Presented by Sou’wester Arts
Johnny Franco is a professional entertainer from Sao Paulo, Brazil who currently resides in Portland, Oregon.
Lewi Longmire: Presented by Sou’wester Arts
“Lewi Longmire’s preferred list of his own recordings runs 42 albums—the complete discography (from acoustic to rock to Valvoline ad spots) would choke a Nano. Regarding live shows, it’s more likely the 37-year-old Portland musician has a gig scheduled around town than not. ‘The peak of the madness was 2003,’ says the local legend. ‘I played 282 shows that year. I musta been nuts…and young. Peter Buck recently joked about my presence around town. He thought it was weird to go see a band in Portland and find I wasn’t playing in it.’
Born to a family of musicians in a Rio Grande farming community, Longmire has a famed versatility (he plays electric and upright bass, pedal and lap steel and traditional guitar, organ and piano, mandolin, drums, harmonica, banjo, trumpet, fitful violin and, as a Universal Life Church minister, has been known to marry bandmates), which led to him being called “the session musician’s session musician.” He started early, mastering instruments in school and playing whatever was needed for those few bands available. After a brief stint at the University of New Mexico, Longmire started touring a folk-punk project around the West Coast, and, a decade later, finally settled ’round Portland. He says he ‘devoted [him]self to being a hired gun in the Americana circles.’
The Barbara’s & Chris King : Presented by Sou’wester Arts
The Barbara’s are sisters Sallie and Weezy Ford.
According to singer Seth Avett of The Avett Brothers, Sallie Ford’s songs have that “rare quality of somehow combining fun with emotional and artistic integrity” and she “fills the room with it” and reminds him of the “energy of early rock ‘n’ roll.
Chris King of Chris King & The Gutterballs know the secret to creative success; movement is key to progress. Whether by gust of tornado-wind or rubber against the road, to push forward is all there is in a life, buoyed and scarred by love. The band infuses this propelling urgency in all of its performances, into all of its songs and it starts with King’s dynamic, uncorked-fire-hydrant of a voice.
Erisy Watt & Jeremy Ferrara : Presented by Sou’wester Arts
Erisy Watt is a Nashville-raised folk artist based in Portland, OR. Consistently referred to as “the next-in-line to the likes of Joni Mitchell and Norah Jones, her music is an exercise in what contemporary folk today sounds like at its peak.”
Inspired by both her time spent studying and working along the central coast of California and in remote regions of Thailand, Indonesia, and Nepal, Watt’s music invites listeners to rejoice in the beauty and freedom of wilder places. With several US and international tours over the past years, Watt’s shared the stage with acclaimed artists John Craigie, Hurray for the Riff Raff, L.A. Salami, Mr. Little Jeans, Shook Twins, Kuinka, Dustbowl Revival, Royal Jelly Jive, T Sisters and Rainbow Girls and released her debut album on July 26th, 2019.
Jeremy Ferrara
What good is a song if it doesn’t make you feel something? Jeremy Ferrara knows this, and refuses to waste a minute of your time. His staggeringly sincere songs are made to wash 10-foot waves of emotion over listeners. Much like the sea, Ferrara’s music is deep, complex, and full of life. His unique songwriting style features unabashed poetic professions of his most vulnerable moments and intimate inner thoughts. Sometimes sorrowful and slow, other times content and forward-moving; Ferrara’s debut full-length album (Out May 1st) finds him inviting us to follow along as he wanders through a broad spectrum of feelings.