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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 2016)
4 Wednesday, March 2, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Nathaniel Talbot to play The Barn The Nathaniel Talbot Trio CD release concert is sched- uled at The Barn in Sisters on March 3, at 7 p.m. The con- cert will feature Nathaniel Talbot on guitar and vocals, Anna Tivel on violin, and Sam Howard on bass. Sisters’ own Raman Ellis and Benji Nagel will open the show. 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, combining the soul- ful edge of tradition with the Pacific Northwest’s legacy of freedom and innovation. It’s a busy life for singer- songwriter and farmer Nathaniel Talbot, who runs an organic vegetable farm on Whidbey Island, in Washington state’s Puget Sound. “I work on the farm 60 hours a week between March and October. An average week during the busy season has two harvest days, one market day, and three days of weeding, planting, and every- thing else,” he said. In addition to farming, he’s just released his fourth album, “Swamp Rose & Honeysuckle Vine,” on Portland’s Fluff & Gravy Records. The album marks the harvest of a differ- ent sort for Talbot, who has also spent over two decades tending to the crafts of song- writing and guitar-playing. His songs on the new album are intimately tied to the lush farmland and windswept vistas of Whidbey Island, deeply rooted in the earth and American traditionalism. “The folk music and big trees that surrounded my childhood were hugely impactful,” says Talbot of his upbringing just a few hundred miles south of his farm, in the foothills just southeast of Portland. “I spent most of my free time running around the forest and making up adven- tures with the neighbor kids. The natural setting certainly imprinted on my sense of self and how I make music.” Raised on the music of Paul Simon and Eric Clapton, Talbot began playing at a young age, learning piano at seven and turning to guitar around thirteen, later steep- ing himself in the sounds of local artists like Soundgarden, Elliot Smith, and Kelly Joe Phelps. Produced by Talbot along with Rob Stroup, Swamp Rose & Honeysuckle Vine marks a big step forward in Talbot’s evolution as a lyricist and a storyteller. Becoming a farmer, he began to dig deep into our most human trait: storytelling. “There was all of a sudden all this raw, untapped mate- rial to write about. Stuff that people used to sing about – stories about farmers wres- tling the landscape, loving it, abusing it, old tractors get- ting stuck in the wetland, kids leaving the farm, soil blowing away in the wind, long hard days of work and the amazing sense of reward and connec- tion with the land.” Swamp Rose & Honeysuckle Vine captures the raw, live energy of Talbot’s guitar-playing, and has a more stripped-down approach than his previous albums — no drums, fewer string arrange- ments, and sparse vocal har- monies. Tracking guitar and vocals live and solo, usu- ally in just one or two takes, Talbot then brought in his quartet of Portland all-stars, Anna Tivel (violin, vocals), Sam Howard (double bass), Lincoln Crockett (mando- lin) and Benji Nagel (dobro), whose auxiliary instrumenta- tion is used intentionally and sparingly to great effect, fill- ing in and conversing with the core of Talbot’s playing and singing. Local singer-songwriters and musicians Raman Ellis and Benji Nagel will open the show. The duo will per- form music from Raman Ellis’ soon-to-be-released new recording, “The Tides,” recorded at the Brent Alan studio. The debut album is full of eloquent, personal lyr- ics brought to life by vocal harmonies, with violin, cello, dobro, mandolin, banjo, gui- tar, and piano. L o cal mu s ic ia n a n d Sisters Folk Festival Creative Director Brad Tisdel says, “Raman is a hidden gem in the myriad of songwriters that are from Sisters and have come through the Americana Project. This album demon- strates the depth of his writ- ing, the quality of his sing- ing, and the overall original- ity of what he is going for FINE FURNITURE By Commission Dining Tables, Desks, Beds, Chests, Etc. Adam Bronstein, Craftsman 541-410-1309 SpringCreekWoodworking.com FREE Local Musician Showcase Fridays 7-9 pm Mar 4: DENNIS MCGREGOR ★ WANTED ★ Full-time and part-time sales associates! Email résumés to rigo@shopdixies.com 541-549-6451 100 E. Cascade Ave. | Sisters, Oregon Cork Cellars is your LOCALLY OWNED Wine Bar & Bottle Shop Serving Beer, too FRIENDLY HANGOUT Ever-Changing Menu New Items Every Fri & Sat CHEF-CREATED SMALL PLATES - YUM! 541-549-2675 Tues-Sat 12-8 p.m. 391 W. Cascade Ave. photo provided Nathaniel talbot is a farmer and a singer-songwriter of note. he will play the Barn in Sisters on March 3. musically. It is a beautiful collection of songs, produced to present the very best of his artistic insight.” Tickets for the Thursday, March 3 show are $12 adult and $10 youth, and will be sold at the door. The Barn is located at 68467 Three Creek Rd., three-quarters of a mile outside of the town of Sisters. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. For ticket and show informa- tion call 541-408-0200.
