A busy night around Portland tonight, with several performances vying for/worthy of your rapt attention. It's hard to pick a standout among them, but it'd be hard to go wrong with the Richard Buckner/David Dondero bill at Dante's. For over a decade, each has managed to carve out a niche for themselves that is edgy and progressive while existing for the most part within a rather old and traditional framework: that of the storytelling troubadour. The catalogs of neither artist, can be summed up that easily, though. Each has gone through his own phases and stages, and each has been consistently rewarding throughout. Buckner's Meadow, released last October, and Dondero's Simple Love, out for a couple months now, represent their most recent efforts. Micheal Dean Damron opens.
Also tonight, it's the first night of performances for the inaugural Siren Nation Women's Music & Art Festival at the Wonder Ballroom. Tonight's bill includes Myshkin's Ruby Warblers, Alela Diane, Liv Warfield, a reunited Team Dresch, and more. The four-day fest kicked off last night at Holocene and concludes Sunday with workshops and a community marketplace at the Kennedy School. In between are film screenings at the Clinton St. Theater, and more music tomorrow night from Mirah, Tracy Grammer, Flat Mountain Girls, and others. It looks to be a great beginning to a welcome new addition to the list of talent-laden Portland arts festivals.
Finally, in some ways very similar to the Buckner/Dondero bill, yet in many others so very different, local treasure Kelly Joe Phelps plays the Aladdin Theater, along with Boulder's intriguing Gregory Alan Isakov. A masterful guitarist and soulful performer, Phelps needs little introduction. Since issuing three stark and stunning releases featuring just voice and guitar, he's expanded his musical palette to incorporate a fuller sound with additional players like Billy Conway, Bill Frisell, and others. His latest recording, and first for the Rounder label, is Tunesmith Retrofit.
You can't possibly be five places at once, so you're bound to miss something, but other shows worthy of your attention on a crisp November evening include The Good Life, Jonathan Rice, and Art in Manila at the Doug Fir; and Amelia, Richmond Fontaine, the Stephanie Schneiderman Band, and the Joe McMurrian Quartet all play the Mission Theater in the first of a series of concerts benefiting Mercy Corps.
Listen: David Dondero's OPB in-studio session
MP3: Kelly Joe Phelps- "Wandering Away (Live)"
MP3: The Good Life, from Help Wanted Nights- "Heartbroke"
MP3: Art in Manila, from Set the Woods On Fire- "Set the Woods On Fire"
