The rise of independent country has been so massive, there are now megafestivals built around independent acts. This has attracted Live Nation, putting more established festivals in peril.
Now Central Oregon will have their own country and roots festival, and it may have one of the best lineups of any independent country event all year. Called the FairWell Festival, they have just announced their inaugural lineup for their July 21-23 festival at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds in Redmond.
He was one of the most authentic and magnetizing artists to grace the country music art form in the modern era. And those who knew Luke Bell, they know this assessment is in no way hyperbole or flattery. Even though he released only one album, in that single volume, Luke Bell captured a bygone era, aura, and mood.
One of the very first festivals that saw the value and rising swell in independent country and roots was Pickathon just outside of Portland, Oregon. This was the place where the very careers of landmark artists such as Sturgill Simpson, The Avett Brothers, Lake Street Dive, and many more were launched.
f there’s any band that is well past due for finally getting theirs, it’s Mike and the Moonpies. And even though we’re well past the era that making your debut on the Grand Ole Opry would guarantee you a powder blue Cadillac and a guitar-shaped swimming pool…
The Pickathon Festival near Portland, OR has been helping to make the quarantine a bit more bearable over the last few months by tapping into its vast archive of high quality concert footage and streaming full sets from past years. The 2019 set from Tyler Childers on Pickathon’s Mt. Hood stage is streamed in its entirety.
Few debut artists and albums have taken us off guard recently like This Highway did from Zephaniah OHora. The Countrypolitan throwback sound with a hint of early Merle Haggard offered such perfect interpretations of the classic era of country, it was eerie how much the words and music took you back to when country music was country music.
It was June of 2014, and an unsolicited submission came into my inbox from an artist named Luke Bell, accompanied by a BandCamp link to an album called ‘Don’t Mind If I Do.’ Nearly six years later, the most common query that lands into that same inbox that Luke Bell first submitted his music to is “Where is Luke Bell?”
The Tyler Childers set was captured on Pickathon’s legendary Woods Stage in the tall Douglas Fir forest that surrounds the festival grounds the weekend he released his latest album ‘Country Squire.’ Yours truly was standing stage side for the set, and can attest to its quality. Admission is free, but the concert is a MusiCares fundraiser.
Two workers were killed Wednesday afternoon (8-8) on the site of the Pickathon Festival in Happy Valley, Oregon, just outside of Portland, while helping to disassemble the tents above the main stage. Located on the Pendarvis Farm, the Pickathon Festival occurred last weekend (August 1st-4th).
As if true country music fans didn’t have enough on their plates Friday (8-2) with Tyler Childers releasing a new record Country Squire, formidable Texas honky tonk outfit Mike and the Moonpies came out of left field with a new record of their own, completely by surprise both in its arrival, and in its approach.
Tyler Childers has just singed to Sony’s RCA Records in a partnership with his own imprint called Hickman Holler, and will be releasing his latest record called Country Squier on August 2nd. Along with the new album, Tyler Childers has announced a bunch of new tour dates dubbed the “Country Squier Run.”
Saving Country Music’s home festival, and the place where Sturgill Simpson was discovered, a.k.a. the Pickathon Festival just outside of Portland, OR has just announced their initial 2019 lineup, and it includes a lot of worthy names from the country and roots world and beyond who will assemble at the Pendarvis Farm.
One may ask why a journalist based in Austin, Texas would trek some 2000 miles to attend a music festival just outside of Portland, Oregon with all the more convenient options the “Live Music Capital of the World” can offer. But those people have probably never been to Pickathon before. Trumped only in stature for […]
The Pickathon Festival just outside of Portland, Oregon has just announced the initial lineup for their 20th Anniversary season, and like most every year, numerous important luminaries from the effort to help save country music have made the cut.
The small yet mighty, meticulously-curated, and expertly-planned festival just outside of Portland, OR known as Pickathon continues to be the local festival with international implications in how talent presented at the festival is given the possibility to break out onto the national stage.
Ever wonder what would happen if one of the deep insiders in the big Music Row system broke free and started spilling the beans on all the stuff that happens behind-the-scenes? That is exactly what former radio promoter and executive Tom Moran is doing on his Inside Nashville podcast.
Not one, not two, but three nominees for Saving Country Music’s 2016 Album of the Year have made the cut for the lineup of the 2017 Pickathon Music Festival just outside of Portland, Oregon in August. And that’s just where the list of distinguished country-oriented artists for the 2017 season starts.
There are bigger festivals. This is for sure. And there are bigger performers and headliners. But few festivals can boast the ability to not just support worthy music from a wide swath of the American audio palette, but truly launch major careers for artists that go on to have an international impact—artists that music needs.
Fans of the hard-charging sound and weighty songwriting of the Oklahoma-based Texas country band The Turnpike Troubadours will have their wishes answered when the band releases their latest, self-titled album. The release follows their highly-acclaimed 2012 offering Goodbye Normal Street, and will surely be one of the most welcomed releases of 2015 in Texas country and beyond.
The Metamodern rise of Sturgill Simpson could be classified as meteoric, and his dramatic ascent in the last few months is virtually unparalleled in the modern country music world for an independent artist. Amidst the swelling crowds, the high praise, and far flung accolades, let’s look back at Sturgill Simpson, and take a moment to reflect on how he got here.
Shakey Graves is quickly becoming an inspiring independent roots music success story and in a big way, despite what seem to be his best efforts to remain as unassuming, humble, and non-commercial as possible, while people gladly shove dollar bills at him. But 2014 promises to see a sea change from this rising roots artist. He’s assembled a band to take his song craft to the next level.
Lake Street Dive is a neotraditional, throwback group that blends elements of jazz, roots, Motown, and other smoke-filled, bluesy and soulful influences that both awaken the spirit in classic American music while still cleverly residing within its own little niche of the current zeitgeist. Aside from the style of Lake Street Dive which is so immediately inviting to culture thirsty ears….
The greatest album, and the greatest recorded song will never be able to trump the truly live musical experience where music is shared in real time with both the artist and listeners. It is in this spirit that each year I assemble a list of the Best Live Performances to reinforce that as technology and the busying of life incrementally encroach upon us, we must remember that the live music show deserves its own attention and reverence.