Calendar

Formed in 2017, Never Come Down was born from the vibrant if not occasionally overlooked music scene of Portland, Oregon. Much like the city that inspired them, they’re a smart, charming, off-beat amalgam of varied backgrounds and tastes. In today’s paradoxical world where honoring tradition is often pitted against exploration and innovation, the band confidently walks the line between the modern and the tried-and-true. They’ve gained a loyal following and continue to win over audiences everywhere from Reykjavik’s Iceland Airwaves to San Francisco’s acclaimed Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. They’ve gained the attention of industry veterans, and toured in support of notable acts such as Yonder Mountain String Band and The Travelin’ McCourys, among others. Never Come Down’s live performance never disappoints- with showmanship, originality, songwriting and musical prowess far beyond their years.

An astute storyteller, poetic and literate, with a stellar stage presence…

Ellis Paul is one of those gifted singer/songwriters. Though some may refer to him as a folk singer, he is more, for lack of a better word, a singular storyteller, a musician whose words reach out from inside and yet also express the feelings, thoughts and sensibilities that most people can relate to in one way or another, regardless of age or upbringing. The exhilaration of the open road. A celebration of heroes. The hope for redemption. Descriptions of those things that are both near and dear. The sharing of love…, intimate, passionate and enduring.

Opening the show will be singer-songwriter Sadie,Gustafson-Zook. 

Every time Sadie Gustafson-Zook carves a linoleum block, sews a pencil case out of scraps, or admires the way the ink in her Pilot G-2 glides over her journal, she thinks, “I should be doing this all the time.” The act of creating something tangible is the air Sadie breathes. Her songwriting is the same- weaving an internal dialogue, the stories she tells herself, warm melodies and clever chords into something real, something she can physically feel with her hands and her throat. And chances are that you’ll be able to feel them too.

Sadie’s songs have been endorsed by some of the most respected songwriting contests in the country, winning Kerrville Folk Festival’s 2022 New Folk Contest (as well as placing as a finalist in 2020), earning second place at the Rocky Mountain Folk Fest’s Songwriter Showcase, and winning first place at the NewSong + LEAF Songwriting Contest. Sadie has been featured on the Basic Folk podcast and on Folk Alley. 

On Sadie’s May 2024 album “Where I Wanna Be,” she takes the listener along on an intimate journey as Sadie decides where to call home. Recorded on an 8-track reel to reel, this stripped-down album isn’t hiding behind anything. Over the course of 10 delightful tracks the listener gains insights into Sadie’s middle school crushes on gay boys, a desire to call the weatherman to ask for some guidance, and the nerve-wracking experience of meeting your idols and feeling small.  Throughout the album Sadie’s agile vocals and intricate guitar playing shine while her thoughtful lyrics capture the immensity of potential and the complexity of history that emerge during times of life transition.

Following closely on the heels of “Where I Wanna Be” is Sadie’s fall 2024 EP entitled “What I Pushed Below,” out November 13th, 2024.

In early 2022, exiled from his Los Angeles home and reeling from an intense breakup, actor-writer-director-songwriter Josh Radnor sought refuge in close friends and good music. He drove to Nashville, Tennessee with his dog, Nelson, and roughly fifty original songs in tow. There, despite the heartache that initially led him South, Radnor found deep peace, immersing himself in what would eventually become his debut solo album, Eulogy: Volume I + II. The process of sifting through the emotional complexities of love, loss, death, identity, grief, and redemption grew into a powerful outlet for healing. It also resulted in twenty-three beautifully minimal, meditative, and stirring folk-Americana tracks—a double-album debut, now available via all streaming platforms.ulogy: Volume I + II are gardens of carefully chiseled gravestones—a moment of respite in a frantic, overwhelming world. Produced and engineered by Nashville friends Jeremiah Dunlap, Cory Quintard, and Kyle Cox, the album’s dozen original tracks exude the unquestionable sturdiness characteristic of classic Americana—these songs tell you stories, make you stomp, and break your heart. Simple, anthemic melodies are laced with electronic elements and idiosyncratic twists, drawing comparisons to 1960s Laurel Canyon artists as well as modern folk acts like Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros. Each song feels substantial in its own way, intentionally created by a dynamic and introspective artist seeking to understand his own lived experiences. “At some point in the writing process, I realized that each track on this album is, in one way or another, about death,” Radnor says. “If not a literal death, then a metaphorical one. I was using these songs to honor—and then bury—parts of myself that were no longer serving me. The album is a song cycle of mini-funerals.”

Radnor’s grounded and intimate songwriting style blends the timeless art of existential questioning with relatable, down-to-earth narratives, in the vein of acts like Nick Drake, Alexi Murdoch, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young. Spanning the spectrum of human emotion—from rage to joy, grief to hope—the tracks seem to speak to one another like bodies in a room, alternately concealing, revealing, or connecting various thematic threads. Backed by sometimes rowdy, sometimes sparse instrumentation, there’s an alluring sense of vulnerability woven throughout the album, each track well-attuned to the emotion that sparked its creation. “All my work is a process of storytelling, in one form or another,” says Radnor. “After spending so much of my career telling stories that last ninety minutes or nine years, I’m finding some real joy these days in being more economical, telling three to four-minute stories.”

Songwriting is nothing new to Radnor, who began making music in 2013 with friend and celebrated Aussie artist, Ben Lee. The pair released two albums as Radnor & Lee—a self-titled debut in 2017, followed by sophomore album Golden State in 2020—and toured the U.S. together, playing small local venues as well as international gigs in Brazil, Argentina, and Australia. Bolstered by the crowd response to Radnor & Lee and enthusiastic support from musician friends, Radnor picked up a guitar along the way and began writing his own melodies and lyrics. Then, in 2021, he dropped his debut solo EP, titled One More Then I’ll Let You Go, via Flower Moon Records. The songs were produced by Ryan Dilmore and praised by American Songwriter for their sincerity, “clever craftsmanship” and “certain purity.” The EP also showcased Radnor’s emotionally-rich, unassuming vocal style and talent for nuanced reflections on life in the guise of relatable, human stories.

Since forming in 1988 in Southern California, Big Sandy and His Fly Rite Boys have become one of the worlds most beloved Americana/Roots acts, drawing from the deep musical waters that flow just beneath the surface of Rock & Rolls fertile soil. A childhood passion for Country, Doo Wop, and Rhythm & Blues 45s led Sandy (born Robert Williams) to pursue a singing career as a teenager, beginning a life in music that continues decades later. And as his personal record collection continues to grow (75,000 and counting), so does the depth of the musical influences that stream through his songwriting and singing style. A critically acclaimed tribute to Tex Mex hero Freddy Fender, released at the beginning of the 2020 lockdown, points the way forward for Big Sandy and his Fly Rite Boys as they continue on a path of musical growth. After nearly 35 years on the road, and more than two dozen releases to their credit, they remain key figures on the ever changing Americana circuit, both on record and in live appearances.

AJ Lee & Blue Summit's latest disc, City of Glass, is a slow burn album, remarkable when considered alongside records released by their peers in recent years. Lee & Blue Summit seem unconcerned with mimicking hugely successful jamgrass bands, or making competitive and performatively intellectual new acoustic music, or wishing to establish themselves as the superlative string band in their bluegrass, old-time, and Americana communities. Instead, they’re most interested in discovering themselves, their own music, and sonics and textures truly their own. So, when they went into the studio to track City of Glass and its gorgeous twelve tracks, they once again forsook the roads most traveled by, looking to their local California community for collaborators that also feel right at home in their chosen family band. They brought in Lech Wierzynski, of the California Honeydrops, to produce; they tapped Bay Area steel guitarist Mikiya Matsuda for a couple of tracks; plus they had Californian banjo player, instructor, and Father’s Day Fest veteran Luke Abbott lend five-string to a number. 

The group is proud to be Californian, proud to represent the neo-traditionalist bluegrass and folk from the state and the mighty communities surrounding them. Their music shines with this “think global, act local” sort of approach. On a track called, “Can’t Find You At All,” they even included a sort of reunion of “The Tuttles featuring AJ Lee” – the true family band from their early childhoods that also included Lee, Sully Tuttle, Grammy Award winner Molly Tuttle, and their father Jack Tuttle – who wrote “Can’t Find You At All”.

Travel back in time to the 1960’s for a fabulous evening of music and entertainment, reminiscent of a Frank Sinatra performance at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. Song stylist Jack Garrett and the amazing Atomic Wise Guys perform Sinatra’s classic hits, including “Fly Me to the Moon,” “My Way,” “One for My Baby (One More for the Road),” “Summer Wind,”“Nice N Easy,” “New York, New York” and many more. As a bonus, Jack and his ten-piece band perform hits from some of Frank Sinatra’s friends such as Tony Bennett, Frankie Valli, Dean Martin and Bobby Darin.

Featuring custom-written, deeply authentic band arrangements to reproduce the original Sinatra recordings, Let Me Be Frank is a fast paced, high-energy show including audience interaction and interesting information about Frank, both the man and his music.

The Atomic Wise Guys
Brian Cashwell – Pianist – Keyboard
Michael Sharfe – Bassist
Jim Leslie – Drummer – Music Director
Bill Dixon – Trombone – Trumpet – Music Arranger
Jeff Folkens – Lead Trumpet
Christopher Jeffery – Jazz Trumpet
Grant “King” Koeller – Tenor Sax
Jeff Spurlock – Alto Sax
Terry Staten – Baritone Sax
Jack Garrett – Vocalist