Jeffrey Silverstein is a songwriter living in Portland, Oregon. He has been making music for over a decade. Prior to relocating to Portland, Silverstein released music with Brooklyn-based duo Nassau and Baltimore’s Secret Mountains, projects who received praise from NPR, Stereogum and the New York Times. How On Earth (2019), his debut solo EP for Driftless Recordings, was developed as an artist-in-residence at the Sou’wester Lodge on the coast of Washington where Silverstein lived, wrote and demoed material inside a vintage Ford motorhome turned recording studio. 

In between solo tours, weekend runs and local performances, Silverstein laid groundwork for You Become The Mountain, his first LP for Arrowhawk Records (Spring 2020). Recorded and produced by Ryan Oxford (Y La Bamba, Matt Dorrien, Jacob Miller) at Color Therapy Recording, the nine songs that comprise YBTM are heavily inspired by the landscapes of the Pacific Northwest, meditation, long-distance running and Silverstein’s work as a special education teacher. Expanding on the minimalist approach (guitar/vocals/drum machine) heard on How on Earth, Silverstein invited pedal-steelist Barry Walker Jr. (Mouth Painter, Roselit Bone) and bassist Alex Chapman (Parson Redheads, Evan Thomas Way) to round-out anincreasingly meditative sound. Led by the spirit of late Detroit musician Ted Lucas, Silverstein was moved to create an album featuring both instrumental and lyric-based compositions. Silverstein casts a wide net in 40 minutes, offering fans of both traditional and experimental folk entry points into his universe. Primarily tracked live and void of heavily processed sounds, the LP serves as a proper introduction to a songwriter who celebrates patience and restraint in the highest regard. 

** Currently, this is scheduled to 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. *

Joshua Thomas : Live Stream presented by Sou’wester Arts

Long Gone John : Live Stream presented by Sou’wester Arts

A hard travellin’, folk singin’, blue feelin’, fingerpickin’, tall tale teller currently based in Portland Oregon. Inspired by aimless travels and the never-ending argument between the head and the heart; Long Gone John has found his voice in the humor of it’s troubles and recklessness of their beauty.

Once steeped heavily in the lush music scene of the Green Mountains; John was the creative force behind local favorite Tallgrass Getdown. Drawing from influences such as The Wood Brothers, The Devil Makes Three, Dr. John, Taj Mahal, The Band, Little Feat and many others, John wrote songs that were edgy, honest, soulful, and deep with a timeless element that somehow meshed seamlessly with carefully chosen covers and adaptations of traditional songs.

In 2015, he decided it was time to hit the road indefinitely. Trading rambunctious crowds at local dives, venues, and festivals for a fresh perspective on himself and his music. The long rambling prairies in the Midwest, the rocky mountains of the great divide, the deep borderlands of Arizona, and the unforgivingly beautiful pacific coast became his audience. After years of travelling, picking, contemplating, and working odd jobs all along the way he’s landed in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

“Creating absolute beauty in each piece of music that he touches.” – No Depression

“{LGJ} Coasts effortlessly upon a wave of rhythm and warmth, skillfully weaving notes into precious tapestries of sentiment that comfort the soul as much as they get one’s toes tapping.” – Music Connection Magazine

“A man who becomes transformed in song, swept away to another land.”- Ryan Oxford(Producer, Songwriter, Musician, Y La Bamba)

** 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. *

(Live Stream) Sallie Ford at The Sou’wester

Sallie Ford grew up in Asheville, North Carolina before moving to Oregon.According to singer Seth Avett of The Avett Brothers, 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.

** 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. *

(Live Stream) Left Coast Country (duo) at The Sou’wester 

Left Coast Country has been performing our own brand of high energy bluegrass across the US since 2010. Drew Tucker and Adam Witkowski bring the duo picking heat to the live stream stage. 

** 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. *

(Live Stream) Navid Eliot at The Sou’wester 

The Sou’wester welcomes Navid Eliot of Seattle Alt-Rock band Bodies on the Beach.

Bodies On The Beach began as solitary exploration for Navid Eliot. With the addition of two Seattle music scene mainstays (Evan Gackstatter and Andrew Ginn), the home recordings of Eliot began to make the shift from art project to art-centric rock n roll.

As in his work in the nationally-celebrated Planes On Paper, Eliot’s fingerpicking remains the simple, skeletal foundation of Bodies On The Beach, though now amidst swirls of tape delay and reverb. “Like other self-aware tunesmiths, Eliot knows that good tremolo guitar and song chops go a long way.” – Ari Rosenschein

Their first EP, “Ghost,” released December 4th, and currently enjoys rotation on the Northwest’s finest radio stations.

** 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. *

Austin Quattlebaum : Live Stream presented by Sou’wester Arts

Austin Quattlebaum – Try – Westy Sessions (presented by GoWesty)

Quattlebaum, Southern Gent and Banjo Slinger, brings more to the table than just music. With his infectious smile and weird antics, he brings people together; encouraging camaraderie and building community. The singer-songwriter, currently based in Portland, Oregon, tours the country picking and strumming indie-folk songs that are spacious and emotive, and have an implicit groove. When he plays, you can hear the reverberations of the rustic mountains clashing with the breezy ocean. Like a willowy heron, Quattlebaum struts around on stage as the music moves through him, evoking a range of emotions from laughter to longing.  He shares tender moments, where one can almost hear his banjo breathing, then erupts into raucous peaks of unbridled energy—his captivating solo performances take his audiences on a ride.

Quattlebaum’s playing style is rooted in traditional southern bluegrass, but his stage presence and improvisational nature have morphed his sound into something all his own. He’s developed his show to be a more complete live experience, switching instruments around on stage from banjo to cello banjo to guitar, and incorporating comedy and funny stories in between songs.

Drew Tucker & Megan Adler : Live Stream presented by Sou’wester Arts

Drew Tucker (Left Coast Country) brings his new alt-folk duo project to the live stream stage. 

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.