Calendar of Events

“Flawless fingerpicking and slide guitar paired with an idiosyncratic style and an exuberant performance persona make James come on like a full band.” – Dirty Linen

“James pulls off riffs that no one this side of Mississippi John Hurt or prime Leo Kottke has committed to tape in years”. – Blues Access

“It says a lot about James’ gift as a musician and storyteller that his own songs possess much of the same charm of the same charm of the older songs he performs.” – Washington Post

ABOUT STEVE

Steve James is a blues musician, a notable songwriter (Talco Girl, Farewell The Roses, Sonny Payne, Birmingham Steel to name a few), one of the best modern bottleneck slide players, a storyteller and a compendium of interesting facts. In the world of contemporary acoustic and roots music, hes earned his reputation with decades of tireless international touring, a stack of solo recordings, a funny, kinetic stage presence and an unmistakable style of playing and singing.

Hes shared his creative instrumental approach on guitar, slide guitar and mandolin with books, print lessons, DVDs and on-line tutorials for Acoustic Guitar and Homespun.

His own recordings engage with other top notch musicians- Cindy Cashdollar, the Bad Livers, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Del Rey and a host of others. As a sideman, both on stage and on record, he has played with Howard Armstrong, Bo Diddley, John Hammond, Maria Muldaur, Furry Lewis and James McMurtry. He often gets a shout-out to get on up here from the likes of Tommy Emmanuel, Hot Tuna or Chip Taylor. Steve has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion, Austin City Limits Live, NPR Morning Edition and many other syndicated broadcasts worldwide.

Steve James started teaching himself guitar from age 12. After high school he worked various jobs and for guitar maker Michael Gurian. He moved to music-rich East Tennessee in the early 70s, where he met and was influenced by Sam McGee. He went to Memphis from 1975-77, where he hosted a radio show on WEVL, performed solo and accompanied Furry Lewis and Lum Guffin. He then moved to Texas, where he performed solo and led a small electric combo with saxophonist Clifford Scott and drummer Bobby Irwin at area clubs, concerts, festivals. His solo acoustic albums began to appear regularly after 1988 and he toured all over N. and S. America, Europe and Australia. Steve relocated to Seattle in 2015 so, not only can we call him a Master of the Blues, we can also call him Neighbor.

Tickets are available locally at Crossroads Music, Quimper Sound or online at Brown Paper Tickets

In this live stream workshop, you will learn mindfulness practices that can benefit your art making and ground you in the present moment. Meg Kaczyk will lead you in simple meditations, followed by art making. Relaxation, presence, acceptance and expansion are liberating and fun outcomes from learning mindfulness basics.

The workshop will begin with introductions, then a short, guided meditation. We will talk about our art making materials, and then Meg will instruct on walking meditation. Students will head out individually for a short walking meditation, coming back to the group for sharing and art making. The session will end with a brief guided metta meditation.

Class size is limited to 5. Please bring your patience while we pilot this format and learn together. You will need to download the free Zoom application (https://zoom.us) prior to the class. A stable internet connection provides the best experience.

Upon registration, you will receive further information from the instructor.

Teaching artist Meg Kaczyk has studied and practiced vipassana meditation for over 20 years, with guidance from Rodney Smith, (now retired) senior teacher of Seattle Insight Meditation Center and IMS, Barre, MA.

“Talbot pushes our understanding of our selves through the intensity of his songcraft. Even the instrumental tracks are enough to make you stop what youre doing and listen.”
– No Depression

It’s a busy life for songwriter and farmer NATHANIEL TALBOT, who runs an organic vegetable farm and seed company on Whidbey Island, in Washington States Puget Sound. When not out cultivating onions on his solar-powered tractor, he’s inside cultivating songs that are rooted in the earth and American traditionalism. Working in agriculture, while often physically and emotionally tiring, also provides the mental space and quietude for songs to be sown and nourished, says Talbot. His fifth album, Animal, set for release September 2018 on AWAL, marks his most ambitious and personal crop of songs to date.

Raised in the wooded foothills southeast of Portland, OR, the big firs and wide farmscapes of childhood made a life-long impression on Talbots songwriting. The natural setting imprinted on my sense of self, and populated my brain with the imagery and storylines that would later manifest in my songwriting. He began learning piano at age seven, started a punk rock band at thirteen, and quickly thereafter began steeping himself in guitar-driven sounds of Kelly Joe Phelps, Elliott Smith, Bill Frisell and other Pacific Northwest heroes. Over the next 15 years, Talbot honed an approach to songwriting and storytelling, driven by his complex, yet delicate, fingerstyle guitar work, which earned him a distinct place in the northwest folk scene.

Animal is a departure from previous records both sonically and lyrically. While Here in the Fields and Swamp Rose & Honeysuckle Vine highlighted Talbots signature acoustic fingerpicking work and were accompanied by fiddle, mandolin and dobro, the new album goes all electric. The tunes are more groove-oriented and hooky than before, animated by a rhythm section of Nashville bassist Sam Howard, and Portland all-stars Galen Clark (organ and keys) and Chris Johnedis (drums). From the sunny, J.J. Kale-esque groove of Mind Made Up, to the eerie, hypnotic pacing of Dime by Dime, the album gracefully explores new intersections of roots, blues, and pop. Howard, who also produced the record, helped to distill the arrangements down to their core ingredients, curating a natural, live studio-broadcast vibe with the vocals front and center. Lyrically, the songs are edgier than past work, a reflection of the growing dystopia in American politics and media culture, as well as the disconnectedness of humans with the natural world. Despite the addition of the full band, and a broader, more experimental sonic palette, Animal never ventures too far from the grounding force of Talbots clear voice, affecting storytelling and distinctive guitar lines.

Nathaniel Talbot’s music has dirt under its fingernails, the product of decades of hard work and crafting retuning, replanting, and retelling. The result is true American roots music that combines the soulful edge of tradition with the Pacific Northwests legacy of freedom and innovation.

Tickets are available locally at Crossroads Music, Quimper Sound or online at Brown Paper Tickets

In this live stream workshop, you will learn mindfulness practices that can benefit your art making and ground you in the present moment. Meg Kaczyk will lead you in simple meditations, followed by art making. Relaxation, presence, acceptance and expansion are liberating and fun outcomes from learning mindfulness basics.

The workshop will begin with introductions, then a short, guided meditation. We will talk about our art making materials, and then Meg will instruct on walking meditation. Students will head out individually for a short walking meditation, coming back to the group for sharing and art making. The session will end with a brief guided metta meditation.

Class size is limited to 5. Please bring your patience while we pilot this format and learn together. You will need to download the free Zoom application (https://zoom.us) prior to the class. A stable internet connection provides the best experience.

Upon registration, you will receive further information from the instructor.

Teaching artist Meg Kaczyk has studied and practiced vipassana meditation for over 20 years, with guidance from Rodney Smith, (now retired) senior teacher of Seattle Insight Meditation Center and IMS, Barre, MA.

In this live stream workshop, you will learn mindfulness practices that can benefit your art making and ground you in the present moment. Meg Kaczyk will lead you in simple meditations, followed by art making. Relaxation, presence, acceptance and expansion are liberating and fun outcomes from learning mindfulness basics.

The workshop will begin with introductions, then a short, guided meditation. We will talk about our art making materials, and then Meg will instruct on walking meditation. Students will head out individually for a short walking meditation, coming back to the group for sharing and art making. The session will end with a brief guided metta meditation.

Class size is limited to 5. Please bring your patience while we pilot this format and learn together. You will need to download the free Zoom application (https://zoom.us) prior to the class. A stable internet connection provides the best experience.

Upon registration, you will receive further information from the instructor.

Teaching artist Meg Kaczyk has studied and practiced vipassana meditation for over 20 years, with guidance from Rodney Smith, (now retired) senior teacher of Seattle Insight Meditation Center and IMS, Barre, MA.

“The matter is clear. Terry Robb is one of our finest acoustic guitarists today. Hes not just technically sublime; he plays with unrestrained passion you will feel deep down inside.”
– Living Blues magazine

Terry Robb is hailed as a blues guitar virtuoso and one of the finest acoustic guitarists on the international scene. His signature fingerpicking style has earned him international acclaim from worldwide audiences, esteemed music critics and his distinguished peers. Incorporating elements from Delta blues, ragtime, country, swing and jazz, Robb has built a unique blues sound that has made him a legend in his prolific music career spanning four decades.

The multitude of awards Terry Robb has received speak to his seminal talent as a blues guitarist. Robb has been inducted into both the Oregon Music Hall of Fame and the Cascade Blues Association Hall of Fame. He single-handedly defined the Muddy Award for Best Acoustic Guitar, winning the prize for 19 consecutive years from its inception in 1992. In 2011, the award was renamed the Terry Robb” Acoustic Guitar Muddy Award to honor his landmark contributions to blues music. In 2017, he received the Muddy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Robb was born in British Columbia, raised in the United States and resides in Portland, Oregon. He achieved greatness at an early age, performing with Ramblin Rex of Frank Zappa / Captain Beefheart fame, Canned Heats Henry Vestine, and steel-string guitar icon John Fahey. At age 24, Robbs collaboration with Fahey led him to produce several of Faheys critically-acclaimed recordings, including Let Go which earned Fahey a four-star review by Rolling Stone. As an acclaimed producer and session guitarist, Terry Robb has contributed to numerous award-winning projects, including Alice Stuarts Grammy- and Blues Music Award-nominated album Cant Find No Heaven.

With more than 15 albums under his name, Robbs award-winning, blues-chart topping discography features collaborations with Fahey, Eddy The Chief Clearwater, Maria Muldaur, Ike Willis (Frank Zappa) and Curtis Salgado. His albums have soared to #1 on the Living Blues Radio Report and charted in the Billboard Blues Album Chart, IBBA Blues Album Chart (UK) and Roots Music Report Blues Chart. He has performed as a solo artist at festivals, theaters and clubs across the United States, Canada and Europe, toured with Fahey, Buddy Guy, Steve Miller and Robin Trower, and shared the stage with B.B. King, Albert Lee, Joe Cocker, Bo Diddley, John Hiatt, David Crosby, George Thorogood, Leo Kottke, Johnny Winter and countless more all-stars. He has appeared as a guest of Late Night with Conan OBrien, the NBA Trail Blazers and the Oregon Symphony.

Steeped in Americana ethnomusicology, Robb is a sought-after educator, giving workshops and master classes in fingerstyle and slide guitar at universities, festivals and arts organizations across the United States and Canada. He is featured in numerous films, TV programs, books and articles profiling American roots and blues music and the luminaries with whom he has worked. These include Game of Thrones, The Horse Whisperer, “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot,” “Portland Mojo: How Stumptown Got the Blues,” and Dance of Death: The Life of John Fahey, American Guitarist.

Tickets are available locally at Crossroads Music, Quimper Sound or online at Brown Paper Tickets

In this live stream workshop, you will learn mindfulness practices that can benefit your art making and ground you in the present moment. Meg Kaczyk will lead you in simple meditations, followed by art making. Relaxation, presence, acceptance and expansion are liberating and fun outcomes from learning mindfulness basics.

The workshop will begin with introductions, then a short, guided meditation. We will talk about our art making materials, and then Meg will instruct on walking meditation. Students will head out individually for a short walking meditation, coming back to the group for sharing and art making. The session will end with a brief guided metta meditation.

Class size is limited to 5. Please bring your patience while we pilot this format and learn together. You will need to download the free Zoom application (https://zoom.us) prior to the class. A stable internet connection provides the best experience.

Upon registration, you will receive further information from the instructor.

Teaching artist Meg Kaczyk has studied and practiced vipassana meditation for over 20 years, with guidance from Rodney Smith, (now retired) senior teacher of Seattle Insight Meditation Center and IMS, Barre, MA.