We’re also excited that last week’s show at High Dive garnered a review from Gwendolyn Elliot of the Seattle Times. Here’s what Ms. Elliot has to say:
“Renegade Stringband started things off with their lively, uptempo bluegrass, effortlessly trading instrumental solos like a jazz sextet throughout frisky covers of Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and Black Keys tunes. Lead by front woman Jessica Jariss’ bold, rootsy vocals, the band played a generous set and had a few fans dancing by the stage, but the venue was so crammed everywhere else my boyfriend and I left for a drink at a nearby bar hoping the crowd would thin out by the next act . . .”
We’re headed north to Seattle on Friday for another show at the High Dive! We’ll share the bill with two wonderful bands:
“Sassparilla offers one of the most entertaining, sweaty live shows in the Pacific Northwest.
Complete with dancing, sing-along numbers, and plenty of good times. And now, with The Darndest Thing, they deliver a record that gives fans a new side of the band, centered on the structure of the song and the lyrics more so than the party groove and liveliness of their earlier recordings.” – from the band’s website.
This is the first recording to feature the full Norway Rats lineup which includes members of the Decemberists, Lucinda Williams Band, The Eels and Minus 5 — Little Sue (vocals, acoustic guitar), Chet Lyster (guitar), Ezra Holbrook (drums), Hanz Araki (vocals, flute), Jesse Emerson (bass), and Jenny Conlee (piano, accordion). “Goodbye to the Rank and File” was recorded throughout the fall of 2009 & the winter 2010 with help from friends like R.E.M. touring musician Scott McCaughey & Talkdemonic’s Lisa Molinaro, and produced by Ezra Holbrook. The final result combines post-punk energy, narrative storytelling, haunting ballads, and whiskey-fueled rave-ups with clear-cut influences by Richard Thompson as well as Hüsker Dü and The Clash.
The show costs $6 if you buy presale tix, and tickets are available here.
Our first show of the new year is this Saturday, January 14! We’ll share the bill with Sugarcane and Polecat. You’ll no doubt remember Sugarcane from our performance with them last year at Mississippi Studios. Polecat is a band from Bellingham, Washington. They describe their music as Newgrass. This is bound to be a blast!
Here’s a lil’ bit about Polecat:
Formed in Bellingham, Washington in March 2010, Polecat has quickly established itself in the Northwest, with two records and over 100 shows in one year. Their unique instrumentation is comprised of Karl Olson (drums), Jeremy Elliott (electric guitar and vocals), Aaron Guest (vocals and 12 string guitar), Cayley Schmid (fiddle), and Richard Reeves (upright bass). This enables them to seamlessly blend genres including bluegrass, country, celtic, rock, and world music into their sound. “The core audience of Polecat is, well, everybody. There is a sense of mass appeal attached to Polecat for it’s unique take on bluegrass, as well as an acknowledged respect for their honest approach to their genre” (H. Nightbert, What’s Up! Magazine, June 2010)
Our friend Ray brews and sells beer for Captured by Porches. Captured is a brewery based in St. Helens, Oregon, and they have a nice big tent with a large wood stove where they sell their beer in Portland. The tent is set up smack in the middle of the D Street Noshery, on Southeast 33rd and Division.
During fall of this year, Ray invited us to begin a weekly gig at the Captured by Porches, we were all over it. Now, every Sunday at 6pm we play, unamplified, beside the fireplace in the large-yet-cozy tent for friends and passersby.
Food and brews at the D Street Noshery are both downright stupendous–come on down and dig in!
Happily, our fiddler friend Ben Hunter will join us at the performance as well. Ben is equal parts playful and soulful on his instrument, he’s the kind of musician that lifts up everyone around him. We can’t wait to share the stage with him!
Ben Hunter in action!
Mississippi Studios is unquestionably one of the finest venues in Portland, you can’t beat it for sound quality and friendly people.
Water Tower Bucket Boys are one of the premier bluegrass bands in the Northwest. Hence, we are delighted to be sharing the stage with them this Saturday!
Live at Laurelthirst Public House
2958 Northeast Glisan Street
Portland, OR 97232
$7, 21+
Here’s a little bit about Water Tower from their website:
Loosely based in the traditions of bluegrass, punk rock, blues, cajun, folk and country their sonic creations transcend all musical boundaries. Their songs feature tight 3 part harmonies and powerful instrumentals. This combined with the lightning energy of their stage performances has made them a favorite amongst music connoisseurs throughout the US and Europe alike. Their latest record, “Sole Kitchen” (Self-Released 2010) features 13 original works with song contributions from each member of the band. The album was recorded by punk rocker Mike Herrera of MXPX and Tumbledown at his Monkey Trench Studios in Bremerton, WA.
This Thursday evening, October 27, our band will perform at the Terry Schrunk Plaza in downtown Portland where the Occupy Portland protest is taking place.
The Occupy movement has taken plenty of flak for failing to be specific enough regarding its goals and desired outcomes, but our observations of the movement have led us to the following conclusions–all of which are reasons our band chooses to stand in solidarity with the protesters:
The protesters are nonviolent.
Active engagement with political issues is vastly preferable to the apathy that has stymied America’s potential for decades.
The movement does not aim to destroy capitalism. Rather, it seeks to expose the fact that there is plenty of wealth to go around, and that extreme greed on the part of a few corporate interests is unnecessarily preventing many, many people from attaining even a decent standard of living.
Photo By Rodith Limtiaco - 2011 7 29
Here are three specific changes we believe the United States government should make:
Abolish corporate personhood via a constitutional amendment.
Reduce military spending & curtail foreign military operations.
Legislation that enacts the recommendations outlined by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.
There are, undoubtedly, many more legitimate reasons to protest the policies and actions of the United States government. These are simply three major changes that we believe will improve our nation’s sad state of affairs.
We are proud to take part in Occupy Portland–see you there.
We are delighted to announce that we will have advance copies of our self-titled EP available this Friday night! Soon, you’ll be able to buy our EP online, as well. Here’s what you’ll hear there:
Track 1 – Walls of Time
Jessica Jarris sings lead on this track, which you can hear by clicking the Play button on the left side of this page. We spent some quality time working out four-part harmony for the chorus, that’s Ben Larsen up there on the high high harmony! Joe is frailing the banjo, Austin’s holding down the mandolin, and Ben did triple duty–he’s singing, playing the guitar, and he overdubbed the dobro. All 6 tracks on our EP feature our former bass player, Max Kutzman. He’s who you hear playing the funky-fresh intro!
This is the sole cover tune on our EP. “Walls of Time” was written by Peter Rowan & Bill Monroe. You can hear the highly distinguished Mr. Rowan playing the song with his current band here:
Here is our band performing the song with fiddler Ben Hunter in Seattle during our August 2011 tour:
Track 2 – Nature’s Gospel
This is an original number by Joe Seamons. In approaching the harmony on the chorus, Joe & Jessica tried to treat it more like a duet than a lead & backing vocal, it’s more fun this way!
The second verse of the song is somewhat clarified by a little backstory: When the founding fathers were still hashing things out in the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, Alexander Hamilton insisted that our fledgling government should honor its war debts. This idea was stridently opposed by Madison & Jefferson, because shameless speculators had bought up the lion’s share of war bonds from the revolutionary smallfolk who initally purchased them. Hamilton insisted that the U.S. needed to establish good credit so that the nation’s economy could began to earn trust globally. Madison and Jefferson were adamantly opposed, but Hamilton struck a deal by allowing them to move the nation’s capital from Philadelphia to their beloved Virginia. Hence the song’s pun, that Hamilton “made public debt immortal for our capitol.” So that one’s a joke from Joe for all you American history buffs out there!
Track 3 – Mission Creek
This instrumental number was written by Austin Moore. He worked out a snazzy mandolin harmony, played here by Ben. Ben’s also playing guitar on this track. We’re very glad to have captured this incarnation of the song, because shortly after we recorded the EP, we solidified our lineup so that (in performance) Austin plays guitar and Ben plays mandolin on most every song. This means that when you hear this song live, you’ll now hear a wholly different version with the roles reversed–Austin playing the melody on guitar, while Ben plays the harmony part on mandolin.
Track 4 – I’m For You
This is the EP’s sole ballad, written and sung by Joe, who’s also playing the guitar here. Ben’s dobro solo is a highlight on this song, and it’s also fun to hear Jessica show off her chops as a keen-eared backing vocalist.
Track 5 – Anna’s Breakdown
This is a Ben Larsen original number, another one of our fiddle-less fiddle tunes. Ben’s shredding mandolin here, Austin’s playing lead guitar while Joe strums rhythm guitar. Check out that wicked bassline courtesy of Max Kutzman! This song’s ending was designed to flow smoothly into the EP’s final track.
Track 6 – Terror Risin’ Blues
This original song by Joe demonstrates one of the key parts of Renegade Stringband’s musical approach–multiple levels of interplay between different instruments. One aspect of this is heard on the instrumental break, where each instrument passes around the melody’s penultimate phrase. Thanks to the artistry of the album’s engineer, Sam Densmore, the recording captures the fact that, in the song’s introduction, the bowed bass note blends with the vocal melody. Also, turn your ear to the deliciously nasty three-fingered banjo picking of Austin Moore. Mighty fun!
We have two farmer’s market performances coming up this week, but first we want to let you know about our band’s first-ever appearance at the Hawthorne Hophouse this Saturday night!
This is our last show in Portland for the next few weeks, and our first concert this year featuring the composer & guitar-slinger Gavin Duffy, the nicest mean guitar player you ever heard.
One other stray lil’ gig to let you know of: our friend has built himself a stage in a starlit garden, and now has a concert series he hosts there every week! Join the party:
(503) 467-7521 Doors open at 6, $5. Minors w/ parent.
You’ll also get to see the Portland Premiere screening of Michael O’Rourke’s documentary film, Roll on Columbia: Woody Guthrie and the Columbia River Songs
That’s right folks, we get to go onstage after a movie premier about the original vagabond himself, Woody Guthrie. We can’t wait!
“Roll on Columbia: Woody Guthrie and the Columbia River Songs”
We’re proud to present Michael O’Rourke’s documentary depicting the remarkable story of songwriter Woody Guthrie’s time in Portland working for the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) in 1941, and the discovery 40
years later of a collection of Guthrie’s BPA recordings about the Columbia River.
Click through to read more!
