Tag: Oregon

Max McNown, Naturally

Posted on by Editor

With the arrival of his latest LP, Leave on a Light, McNown leans into the appreciation and love he has for those who have anchored him through the whirlwind last few years, and reminds the listener – and himself – of the value in slowing down to embrace the beauty around us.

In the matter of three short years, the Oregon native – now based in Nashville – has made a name for himself thanks to a rapidly growing body of work – including his breakout single, “A Lot More Free,” and the follow-up hit, “Better Me For You (Brown Eyes),” which climbed to No. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year.

As a native son of the Pacific Northwest, the region continues to influence his sound as he finds inspiration and respite in nature, creating “music that feels like the forest.” From the opposite side of the continent, McNown spoke with BGS via Zoom from Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he was on the road as part of his headlining Summer Vacation Tour.

BGS: This is your third album in less than three years. I imagine it’s been a breakneck few years for you. How are you feeling at this moment, with the release of this new project?

McNown: Oh, gosh. I gotta say, I’m tired. I’ve been playing a lot of shows, writing a lot of music, and just kind of going nonstop for those three years, and it’s gotten me where I am, and so I’m extremely grateful, and I don’t plan on taking the foot off the gas pedal anytime soon, but yeah, it’s weird. I don’t know what time zone I’m in half the time in my life, but I am very excited about the project, and I’m very excited about the songs finally being out and seeing the light of day because I put a lot of heart into it.

I wrote about 45 songs. We had a really difficult time – well, I had a really difficult time choosing which of the songs were gonna end up making it onto the project, which is something that’s a little different about this one. The other two albums were so “go, go, go” that we wrote just a couple extra songs other than the ones that were on the album. And now, I felt like I’d grown as a songwriter and I had grown as a musician in general with the amount of shows I’ve played, I felt like I could write more than before and really hone in on what I wanted to say with the album.

Talk a little bit about the shaping of this 17-song tracklist and the themes you’re exploring over the course of this project.

Yeah, so just about every single song on the record, in some way, is an expression of gratitude for the people that are caring about me, beneath the music. I think it’s natural when I’ve been going so hard for so long that it’s the thing that I’m most grateful for and I want to focus on, is the people that haven’t changed the way they view me and haven’t changed the way they treat me. You know, my parents, my siblings – there’s a song for my little sister, Selah – and of course my wife and my crew.

The song on the record, “Greatest Audience of All” – that’s talking about the people that were there at the very beginning when I was just sitting around a fire playing music for them. Each song is a bit of its own thank-you to those people in my life that keep the light on while I’m away, whether that’s mentally or physically gone. That’s where the album title comes from too, which is pulled from the pre-chorus of the song, “Slow Down, Slow Down.”

Leave on a Light certainly feels appropriate as the album title, because many of these songs seem to radiate this sense of warmth, optimism and light. Can you talk about that infusion of those attitudes in this music?

Yeah, I don’t know if that is intentional or not, honestly. I guess I’ll find out the more songs I write. I had somebody tell me a while back that one of the reasons that they enjoy my music, specifically, is because even in the songs that are about heavier topics or sadder things, there’s always an underlying sense of hope and I think that comes from just how I was raised and my faith and my family and what makes me, me.

So I don’t know if that’ll change from album to album. But I think that that sense of warmth is just something that found its way in. I hope that it’s because it’s in my heart, you know? When I’m writing a song, I’m not really trying to think about that warmth and that light, I’m just trying to write from who I am, and I think that’s the best thing you can do to kind of stand out, is to lean into the things that make you, you.

The Pacific Northwest seems to have really influenced your songwriting and the type of music you make. Having grown up there, how do you feel like it has impacted you musically?

Yeah, I mean, when I was growing up in Oregon, and especially after high school, when I was spending time in Bend – and during COVID, back in West Linn – I was constantly hiking, I was constantly camping, I was constantly trying to find viewpoints and just explore nature’s beauty, because there’s so much of it out there.

And in high school and especially middle school, I kind of fell in love with straightforward pop music. And as I got older and as I started to put myself in those creation environments, the music that fit most was folk music. It was that “granola,” you know, the music that feels like the forest. I would say for me, that was Sam Burchfield, Gregory Alan Isakov, Rayland Baxter…a lot of that kind of folk-roots music. I ended up listening to pretty much just that. And I would say still to this day, that’s my personal favorite music.

Some of those similar nature sentiments seem reflected in the song, “Same, Same Sun” – how did writing this one come about?

That song was designed to feel like the forest. We were talking about Glacier National Park, we were talking about Yellowstone, we were talking about the Northern California Redwoods and the “Forever Ain’t Long Enough” music video that we just shot there and everything I had experienced there. We were all telling our stories, [songwriters] Scott Harris and Jamie Kinney and I.

Jamie was talking about what his trip to Montana meant to him, and how it made him feel small, and made him appreciate the life that he has because it’s so rare. It’s such a low chance of happening with how big this universe is. And so we set out to write a song that captured those feelings that we were all talking about. And at the end of the day, I think the primary takeaway of that song is I hope that people feel a sense that everything will be okay.

You know, that was a concept straight from my Notes page, “the same sun is shining on me.” Like, the exact same sun that every single human in the history of our Earth has seen and experienced in all of their lives that have come and passed, under that same sun, it kind of makes you realize that there’s some sort of bigger plan, and it’s gonna be okay at the end of the day. And I wrote it with that intention.

Once we got to its completion, I remember a few days later, I was driving to another write, and I was so tired. And I was listening to the rough mixes from the last few weeks, and “Same, Same Sun” came on, and I can’t really explain it, but there was an overwhelming sense of peace that I felt. And when my own songs – because I actually don’t love listening to my own voice still. It’s a little difficult for me. And so when one of my own songs evokes an emotion like that, it’s a sign to me that it’s something that needs to come out and see the light of day.

You started playing guitar just a few years ago, when you were 21. You’re 25 now, so it seems like you must be a pretty quick learner. Are there other instruments you are interested in learning to play or ways you’d like to continue expanding musically?

I’d like to get better at harmonica. I know the very basics of harmonica, you know, I play it each night on stage, but it’s pretty simple playing that I do, and I’d like to get a little better.

I would also really love to improve on guitar. People hear that I taught myself guitar at 21, and they’re like, “Oh, he must be really good now.” It’s been four years. And I’m like, “No, I pretty much just play rhythm on stage, and I capo and play some easy chords.” I really want to progress in that and grow so that I can start playing electric and actually playing some important parts of my songs that, you know, studio musicians would play, on stage. And so that’s something, that’s a 2027 thing that I’ve actually been talking to my bandleader about. I’m gonna try to get in one or two guitar lessons a week to really try to hone in on my guitar skills.

You’ve spoken about how some words your grandfather shared with you have really become an important reminder for you as you navigate this career: “Providence is the hand of God in the glove of circumstances.” How are you reminding yourself of those words as you go throughout your life? How would you encourage someone who wants to incorporate that way of thinking into their own lives?

Keep your eyes open. I feel like with the amount of technology we have and the doom scrolling capabilities, and especially with AI’s advancements, I feel like we’re getting further and further away from observation. We’re getting further and further away from being in moments and not thinking about other things. You know, every time you open your phone, you’re thinking about something else that pops up on your screen. I think just being present and seeking out coincidences that seem a little too insane to be coincidences, that’s where I see God personally in my life, and I think that it’s really easy to miss. It’s really easy to miss if you’re distracted, and there’s so much distraction in our world.

I think that’s one of the reasons I love nature, too. I love just not having those distractions, and being so present in this place, right exactly where you are right now, and looking around you, and observing, and thinking, and putting yourself in those places where you can fully take in the greatness of this world that we’re in. I think that’ll give you gratitude. And I think gratitude is the greatest combat to anxiety. And so the more gratitude you can try to search and feel, the better you’re going to feel mentally.

Photo Credit: Benjamin Edwards

Fruition Finds Something More Before Finishing One Last Tour

Posted on by Editor

Formed in 2008 as a busking band on the streets of Portland, Oregon, Fruition has thrived in the places where people would least expect it. I mean, how else does a folk pop band wind up playing for and being embraced by the jamgrass community?

Over the past 18 years the band — Tyler Thompson, Kellen Asebroek, Miriam “Mimi” Naja, Jay Cobb Anderson and Jeff Leonard — has dropped eight albums including the just-released Something More, each one more explorative and cohesive than the last. The new album’s 11 songs touch on everything from hurdles in relationships (“Matters of the Heart”) to finding light in uncertain places (“The Well”) and dreaming about what comes next (“Something More”).

As the title track suggests, Something More also happens to be the band’s final album (for now) after it issued a statement that the economics of touring are no longer feasible. Ahead of the album release, Jay Cobb Anderson spoke with BGS about why now is the right time to say goodbye.

BGS: Tell me about the timing of this decision to step back from touring. I understand it partly stems from some issues you were having with the band’s sprinter van.

Anderson: We’d already been thinking about stepping back and the van breaking down was just another sign that was the right decision to make. It all started this spring when Mimi came to the conclusion she didn’t want to tour anymore. A lot of bands will continue on when one of its members doesn’t want to do it anymore, but the core of the group has always been her, Kellen and me, so when she told us that we all began to reevaluate things. It’s just been really hard out there since the pandemic. There’s less people coming to show and guarantees for bands are lower as a result.

Also, for a long time I’ve wanted to focus on my solo stuff. So, this doesn’t mean we’re all going to stop making music entirely. The way we’ve been doing it is just no longer sustainable. Things change and people grow, so there’s no telling what’s going to happen in the future. Just because we aren’t touring doesn’t mean we won’t play together again. In fact, I highly doubt we’ll never play again. We might even put out another record but not tour on it — you just never know.

It sounds like your desire to make music together hasn’t waned, just that the financials and logistics behind it are getting tougher to manage.

That’s absolutely the truth of it. We’ve sacrificed so much for the music, and have done so for a long time, that it just became automatic. But at a certain point we started asking ourselves, “What are we doing?” Because even when you’re doing this at a high level on a bus, it still eats your time and keeps you away from home for long periods of time. When you’re young you feel like you can go on tour forever. We used to never think about the future, so this just feels like a natural evolution of things.

However, it is also very sad because we are at the point where we’re musically connecting better than we ever have. The shows have been incredible and the sound of our band has reached a point that we’re really happy with. It’s definitely bittersweet to think that it’s not going to happen like this anymore, especially when we’re firing on all cylinders, but that’s just the way it is and life goes on. I’m just excited and proud to be releasing what I think is the best record we’ve ever made before this.

Is there anything new or different you’re planning to bring to this final run of shows?

With where we’re at, we’re already taking more chances than we ever have on stage. This record pushed us in different ways, like on the title track when our bassist Jeff Leonard played piano. It’s the only song we’ve ever done where he’s stepped away from the bass. Stuff like that is going to be special live, but I’m also looking forward to digging into our back catalog as well.

One of the shows I’m most excited for is at the Crystal Ballroom [in Portland] in January. It’s our second-to-last show, so we’re hoping to turn that into a big event with a bunch of old friends. I’m actually out on the road with Caamp right now. I’ve played with them for the past year and a half when I’m available. Over that time Taylor Meier and I have become really good friends, so I’m hoping to have a sit-in from him somewhere along the way.

When you first began writing the songs that make up Something More, did you already know this would be your “final” record?

This album was being worked on way before we ever had the idea to stop touring. As artists and writers, you’re always trying to evolve, and this record in particular has more co-writes than any record we’ve done. What’s cool is you get to not only hear the evolution of us individually through some of those songs, but true collaboration as they’re coming to life too. The song “By Now” comes to mind. I remember Kellen had a riff on the piano and all of us gathered around him shouting out words until the song wrote itself. It was a true tri-write!

There was no intentional thought of “This is ending” but I believe we were being really vulnerable with each other by bringing up songs that were half-finished and writing them together, which we’d never done before. It’s a great way to give tribute to this band that we’ve all been in for so long.

You reunited with producer Tucker Martine — whom you refer to as a sixth bandmate — on this record. What drew you to working with him again?

We first worked with him back in 2018 with our record Watching It All Fall Apart. He produced that and we recorded it at Flora Studios, so we had a rapport with him and loved working with him. We always kept it in the back of our mind that if we wanted to do the producer thing again, maybe we should go back to him. He’s just so good at knowing what to say and how to coax the best performance out of somebody. He’s one of those guys that we all trust in his ear and ability to help us build this thing.

He’s also super encouraging and open for exploration of his studio. We’re the kind of people that when we walk into his studio, we start exploring and messing around with stuff immediately. One of the things he had was this old organ from the ’60s called an Ace Tone organ. It’s a little suitcase organ that has a Farfisa sound to it. It’s a very unique sound that we immediately put on the first track on day one. Then we put it on the second track and at a certain point we’re like, “Let’s see if we can put this on every track” and that’s exactly what we did. It’s something that would never have happened if we weren’t recording with Tucker and didn’t have that kind of encouragement and freedom to just explore whatever’s in the studio.

One thing that’s really hard about being in a band with three different songwriters is making a congruent record that flows together, because everybody can be in different places in their lives. We’ve always just cared about if the songs are honest and have integrity, and Tucker has this golden thread he’s able to weave in between every track. Part of that has to do with his capabilities from the engineering side of things, like some of the amps he’s using and compression that he’s using that give everything a similar sound, even though the songs might be completely different. There’s rock and roll songs on this record, there’s soul songs, there’s country-ish songs, and for him to add his flavor to it all just makes for a much better record.

Were there any other peculiar instruments that found their way onto the record?

He’s got a really old Maestro Rhythm King drum machine, and we ended up using it on the last track on the record. He also had a specific kind of reverb tank that Lee “Scratch” Perry used on all his reggae dub stuff, which Tucker loves. Also on “All Over,” he had an analog space echo that was really fun. We’re pulling these old junker Harmony guitars off the wall because they have cool tones. He also had an autoharp that we used at the end of the song “Forward.” I just pulled it down and strummed it to see if it would work and was like, “Oh man, it’s in tune for this one chord,” and it was the ending chord of the song. [laughs]

It sounds like a lot of experimenting and trusting your intuition, which also seems to be at the heart of the song “Compass.” Care to elaborate on it?

Yes. The title suggests that in its own way and the lyrics – ‘You could be a light in the sky / Your heart is a compass rose / And it knows what’s right’ – are such poignant and simple things. Kellen actually wrote it about ten years ago and we demoed it with Tucker our first time around with him, but it wasn’t quite ready yet and wound up sitting on the back burner for a long time. It just wasn’t going to die though and popped back up during this album cycle and we knew we were finally ready for it when it did.

You already talked about how this album was recorded long before a band hiatus was on the table, but what about the song sequencing? How intentional were you with that, and does any of it reflect that this is the end of an era for the band?

The track order was really hard this time around, which is funny to me because usually it’s not for us. We typically go, “OK, this will be a great opening track” and “This will be a great ending track,” with it ebbing and flowing in between, but this time we all had different ideas of how the track flow would work.

Since we couldn’t come to a consensus on anything, we instead just did whatever Tucker wanted to do. It resulted in a very different track order than I was wanting for the record, which is interesting because I can be a little pushy in my artistic visions. But I just relinquished control, which took me a while to do, and eventually something clicked and now it really resonates with me. In Tucker we trust.

What do you hope fans remember most about Fruition when they listen and look back on your legacy as a band?

When you do this kind of thing, you always hope that you are resonating with your crowd and giving them something that they need. Our fans have been so great through the years and so supportive to us. We have a lot of hardcore fans, and I know a lot of people are going to be affected by this, but I hope that they just come to the shows like they have in the past, enjoy themselves and let us do our thing. They’ve always trusted us with throwing out new stuff and trying new things.

My goal is that people walk away from some of these last shows reflecting on the songs, the moments we’ve shared together and how we have always tried to be genuine, honest and vulnerable. I don’t want any of them to walk away thinking that we’re over each other or making music together, because that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Photo Credit: Lauren Hartmann; L to R: Tyler Thompson, Kellen Asebroek, Miriam “Mimi” Naja, Jay Cobb Anderson and Jeff Leonard

The Working Songwriter: Fruition

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Our guests this week got their start busking on the streets of Portland, Oregon, but it wasn’t long before their popularity pulled them onto the open road. Jay Cobb Anderson and Kellen Asebroek are pivotal and founding members of roots music band Fruition. They have toured with Greensky Bluegrass, the Infamous Stringdusters, Yonder Mountain String Band, and many others and have appeared at iconic festivals such as Telluride Bluegrass Festival, WinterWonderGrass, and the Northwest String Summit.

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Fruition’s 2018 release, Watching It All Fall Apart, debuted at #3 on the Billboard Bluegrass Albums Chart. Billboard said, “Fruition have matured into one of America’s most compelling roots acts” while Rolling Stone Country noted, “The trio’s harmonies are as tight as anything coming out of Nashville.” No Depression declared that they’re “a band whose chemistry feels lived-in and wholly authentic.”

I got a chance to catch up with them a while back to hear about their musical journey so far.

Photo Credit: Kaja Sigvalda

MIXTAPE: Max McNown’s Northwestern Woods Adventure

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

(Editor’s Note: Indie-folk singer-songwriter Max McNown released his anticipated new album, Night Diving, on January 24. Only 23 years old, McNown is a bit of a social media sensation, his energetic and passionate songs having already garnered millions of streams, fans, and listeners. To celebrate Night Diving, he has curated a Mixtape for BGS that pays tribute to the beautiful natural locales of his Oregon and Pacific Northwest homelands. Enjoy a playlist adventure into the Northwestern Woods with Max McNown.)

These are the songs that inspired me to go on late night drives to the Oregon coast with the windows down, feeling the breeze funnel across my face while I sing every word at the top of my lungs. – Max McNown

“The Stable Song” – Gregory Alan Isakov

I first heard this in the movie The Peanut Butter Falcon. The song, coupled with the adventurous feel to the movie, makes it one of my favorite camping songs.

“By and By” – Caamp

Due to similar vocal tone, this song is one I feel confident belting with the volume high on a late night drive.

“Vagabond” – Caamp

The folky nature of this song fits perfectly with the Mount Hood National Forest scenery.

“Flowers In Your Hair” – The Lumineers

When I discovered this song, I had just found a path I could drive down to reach the coast, directly onto the sand. This song will forever remind me of the sunset that evening.

“Big Black Car” – Gregory Alan Isakov

I play this song on repeat when hiking on the Columbia River Gorge.

“Angela” – The Lumineers

This is one of the first songs I’ve ever tired learning on the guitar & will always remind me of my parents’ place in Oregon.

“Amsterdam” – Gregory Alan Isakov

One of the many songs by Gregory Alan Isakov that makes me feel like I’m in the Northwestern woods when I feel homesick.

“Late to the Fire” – Sam Burchfield

Sam Burchfield, in my opinion, is one of the most underrated artists on the scene. There aren’t many other songs filled with as much nostalgia for my younger years than this one.

“Forever” – Noah Kahan

“Forever” is the most influential song in my songwriting journey. Noah’s folkiness and Northeastern upbringing fits the theme well.

“Northern Attitude” – Noah Kahan

I’ve experienced the northern attitude on the other side of the country, and found this song to be very relatable to me and inspirational.

Photo Credit: Benjamin Edwards

Basic Folk: Blind Pilot

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Oregon-bred indie folk music outfit Blind Pilot go on a deep spiritual journey on their new album, In the Shadow of the Holy Mountain, produced by Josh Kaufman. The music inspiration for frontman Israel Nebeker lay in his songwriting process. This is the first Blind Pilot album in eight years, because after struggling with writing for years, Nebeker set aside the songs he had been working on. (Which will be included on a new solo record in 2025.) He gave himself a month to write an album’s worth of songs to present to the band. He demo-ed the songs and headed out for a trip centered around spiritual growth in Norway.

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Searching for ancestral connections and tracing his own roots, Nebeker sought out the Sámi – a semi-nomadic Scandinavian people – their culture and community. He participated in a Sámi shamanic journey exploring indigenous spirituality. A shaman took him on a drum journey and invited him to listen for ancestors and visions. His vision included his ancestors beckoning him to a path that led straight to a mountain, which was clearly his family legacy and origin. Back in the studio with the band, he re-listened to his songs and was very surprised to realize that the album was about his ancestors. The connection that the rest of the band felt in delivering the music is palpable. The special emotional dynamic that always exists with Blind Pilot is supercharged on In the Shadow of the Holy Mountain.

Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez

BGS 5+5: Max McNown

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Max McNown
Hometown: Bend, Oregon
Latest Album: Wandering
Personal Nicknames (or rejected band names): Almost went by Max Winter (Winter is my middle name)!

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

My pre-show rituals remain somewhat consistent from show to show. I stay hydrated throughout the day leading up to soundcheck and I typically take it easy on my voice while I rehearse the songs (because I haven’t warmed up at that point). Post-soundcheck, I rest in the green room and use a steam inhaler to clear my sinuses before letting my vocal cords cool down from the heat for at least 30 minutes. After that, I kill time until around 30 minutes before I hit the stage, occupying myself with iPhone games to distract me from the pre-show nerves. At 20 minutes before the show I do a 10 minute vocal routine. At the 10 minute mark I call a circle with my band and say a prayer of thankfulness, asking that whatever happens, we impact the crowd for good. Minutes before stepping on the stage I conduct a box breathing exercise to slow my heart rate, and I’m off to the races!

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

Growing up, I leaned on music to get me through some of my most difficult moments. If I could summarize my “mission” it would be to return that healing… To repay what music has done for me to those who hear my own songs.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me”?

Considering nearly all my songs are directly influenced by my own life, I hide behind characters often. I purposefully keep it vague when discussing which lines in which songs are fully “true stories.” Some of the most impactful films of my life are “based on a true story” and I take that knowledge into every writing room. Occasionally I take liberties when storytelling, but a lot of my work is pretty accurate to my own life journey.

Does pineapple really belong on pizza?

Considering Hawaiian-style pizza is one of my favorite foods, I strongly believe if you enjoy the taste, you can put whatever you want on pizza!

If you were a color, what shade would you be – and why?

If I were a color I’d have to think I’d be my favorite one, forest green… Simply because of my upbringing in the lush Oregon trees, my green eyes, and my love for nature!

Photo Credit: Benjamin Edwards

15 Years In, Fruition Aren’t Just a Band, They’re a Family

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

For many of us, we’re already well aware of how difficult it is to pinpoint the sonic tones and textures of Fruition. From Americana to blues, gospel to folk, the ensemble has this “kitchen sink” type of subconscious approach — one where anything goes musically, so long as it inspires and stokes the creative flame within.

On their latest album, How to Make Mistakes, the Portland, Oregon-based quintet retains that same intent, which has made the group a prized touring act in acoustic realms coast-to-coast since it first came onto the scene in 2008.

At the helm of the band is founding member Mimi Naja, a multi-instrumentalist whose swirling, carefree vocals of joy, purpose, and curiosity reside at the heart of the chemistry that gives Fruition this ebb and flow relationship with the muse itself. Always soaking in whatever you cross paths with; always radiating a deep sense of self from inhabiting of your own respective path in this universe.

Beyond the new record, Fruition also recently crossed over the 15-year mark together, after a cosmic happenstance where guitarist Jay Cobb Anderson just so happened to see Naja at a Portland open mic night those many years ago — the result being this continued journey of not only artistic discovery, but also genuine friendship.

Listening to the new album, what I like about it is in such a chaotic world we live in on a day-to-day basis, it’s relaxing. It made me, purposely or subconsciously, slow down a little bit.

Mimi Naja: Yes. That’s amazing. I love “relaxing” as an adjective. I really feel like we matured a little bit by this stage. But really, I think we just kind of relaxed. There’s a lot of half-time tempo. Just settle in and do the song. Not a lot of pumped, flashy, show-off energy, just very chill.

It didn’t seem like y’all were in a hurry. It seemed like the band was enjoying the process, being together and creating.

That’s exactly it. You’re nailing it. I’m glad that it’s coming across that way. The title, How to Make Mistakes, is pulled from a song lyric in one of the tracks. But, it’s really appropriate to the fact that it’s all [recorded] live with no overdubs. All in the same room and just in the moment. Making a record like records used to be — an actual record of people sitting in a room playing music.

What does it feel like to be with folks that you’ve played together for 15 years and to still enjoy that space?

It’s the best. And the fact that it has been so many years is why it’s easy to get there. I dabble in other side projects and I love the thrill of having to stay on your toes, when you’re getting to know someone musically and otherwise. But, it’s a real blessing to just settle in [with Fruition] — it feels like home.

Maybe even on an existential level, what does that album title mean to you?

We just believe in the beauty of flaws. And knowing when something is raw, it’s real. In a world of how we look on social media and filters and everything being polished and clean and quantized, we love the realness and the rawness. Sometimes that’s cracks in your voice or you’re slightly out of tune or whatever it is — we love that. There’s a thirst for that realness in this polished age. So, we hope it makes the ears happy in this world.

Whether it’s conscious or subconscious, your band is very elusive sonically. Is that by design or just how things evolved?

I think it’s a point of pride in the early days of, “We are here to deliver a good song in its finest form, no matter what it sounds [like].” In some ways, it’s been to our detriment, as far as a growth trajectory. From a longevity career standpoint, being elusive is charming, but it’s also hard to sell. So, in a way it was by design. But then, as the years went on, I think we hate boxes. People need boxes and we don’t have one for them. So, that’s why we’re kind of trying to cling to this Americana blanket because it works for us.

There’s such a rich tapestry of sound. I hear Delta blues, gospel, country, indie rock, and folk. I hear everything in there. But, that’s also a testament to the band’s curiosity. Y’all seem like you’re sponges just constantly soaking in influences.

For sure. And it’s what we love about ourselves individually and as a band. It’s what fuels such a richness. But, it’s a double-edged sword. That can be confusing to new fans that are just pushing play. It’s such a crap shoot on whatever two or three songs they choose to push play on throughout our pretty large discography. They could get a very different outcome. But, you know, that’s the chance we take, we love it all. That’s what makes this unique, but also confusing.

Multiple harmonies are a big part of your sound. Why is that such an important component to the band?

We just love singing, first and foremost. As a band, that’s the roots of where we began. We were a sidewalk busking band before we ever really organized. That’s just what we were doing for fun and for chump change. Back in the good old days, just busking to pay our bills. And that’s when we realized how powerful this three-part harmony was together. And that comes back to [the new album], how it feels sitting in a room together when those three-part harmonies kick in. That’s what really feels like home. It’s always to serve the song – that’s our deep love right there.

What did busking teach you about who you are as artists?

You learn to use the kind of the raucous, fast, high, long note vocals. But faster, a little more like party songs. We knew when we needed to turn it up, to turn some heads and get a couple bucks dropped. But, I learned once you’ve drawn them in, that’s when you can do what you really want, which is sing the slower, sadder, prettier things. We love it all. We love raucous rock, but we’re really quite tender artists at heart. I learned how to get attention and I learned that we do have something special. Once we’ve gotten the attention, we have it, and so then we have freedom to relax. Today’s climate makes it pretty challenging, but we believe in it and we’re just hoping for more ears, so that we can continue doing what we love.

Fruition recently crossed over the 15-year mark. What’s been the biggest takeaway for you on this journey thus far?

I can tell you that the passing of time is blowing my mind. Fifteen years sounds wild. My body doesn’t feel youthful, but my spirit still feels youthful. The road and the performing, the giving your heart up onstage and getting that back from the crowd? That keeps us young. The flying and sitting in vans doesn’t. There’s a youthful spirit that stays alive through all of this somehow. A true band is as deep as a marriage or a sibling-hood. It’s beautiful. And it’s a real testament to the music, too, because it’s cool when you see people just grow and continue to offer new shades of their music or new chapters. And, with no shade to any sort of artist or bands with hired guns, it’s very apparent that this is so different from that. It’s so much deeper. It’s a family, you know?

Photo Credit: Kaja Sigvalda

Basic Folk: Anna Tivel & Jeffrey Martin

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Anna Tivel and Jeffrey Martin have both released new albums in the past year that have knocked us right over. Living Thing is the most recent Anna Tivel record and Thank God We Left the Garden is the latest from Jeffrey Martin. Of all the singer-songwriter interviews and musician conversations we’ve done over the course of the pod, these two kooks have been a popular pair on this Basic Folk podcast. Their inspiration, musician life stories, and music career development have been fascinating journeys, Jeffrey being a former high school teacher and Anna spending her formative years intensely playing the fiddle before moving to Portland, Oregon at the age of 18.

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In our conversation, the pair speak to several hot topics like, “Do you write about your neighbors,” “How’s your physical body at processing stress,” and “What is the point of your newsletter?” We dig right into it in true folk music podcast fashion, and these two are not holding back. If you are looking for some top notch advice, music collaboration ideas, and the latest in folk music trends – it remains to be seen whether you will find that here. What you will find are two very deep and thoughtful musicians sharing what goes on in their lives and hearts and in their designated work spaces. Spoiler alert: Anna’s office has five massive papier mâché eyeballs.

Photo Credit: Anna Tively by Cody Onthank; Jeffrey Martin by Jeffrey Martin

BGS 5+5: Rose Gerber

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

Artist: Rose Gerber
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Latest Album: Untraveled Highway

Genre is dead (long live genre!), but how would you describe the genres and styles your music inhabits?

I like to describe my music as rock meets country, though I have some ’90s alternative and pop influences in there. To mash all those up into one genre, I settle on calling it alt-country.

How often do you hide behind a character in a song or use “you” when it’s actually “me?”

All the time. It’s almost impossible to exclusively divorce my own emotions and experience when creating a character. It’s very freeing, though, and I like to weave in and out of not just the character’s perspective, but the perspectives of other people I know, too, as well as mine.

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

I wrote a song called “Back of My Mind,” which is about my father who passed away when I was young. I cried my way through writing it and relived a lot of the grief I hadn’t felt in years.

What is a genre, album, artist, musician, or song that you adore that would surprise people?

I love Enya. I put it on when I am super stressed, need to fall asleep, or just want to feel some mystical vibes. Last time I visited Ireland, I fulfilled a dream and put it on full blast as I drove along the Irish west coast taking in the scenery.

Does pineapple really belong on pizza?

I fought it for so long and one day I was high and hungry enough to be talked into it. It was an instant love affair. I’ve since branched out into being open to other fruits on a pizza. Fig, pear… though I might draw the line at watermelon.

Photo Credit: Whitney Lyons Photography.