Wednesday, September 9, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
21
John Craigie makes return to Sisters
By Ceili Cornelius
Correspondent
Portland-based artist,
John Craigie, is returning
to the Sisters stage for the
Sisters Folk Festival Close
to Home 2 event — on the
weekend that the festival
would normally have been
held.
The second weekend in
September, SFF is offer-
ing a second small concert
event, after the first Close
to Home socially-distanced
concert event on August 1
proved a success.
John Craigie was most
recently on the Sisters
stage for the 2019 Winter
Concert Series.
“I have always loved that
part of Oregon and I am
excited to be back again,”
said Craigie.
Craigie played the Sisters
Folk Festival once before
in 2014 when he was first
making an impact on the
music scene.
Craigie grew up in
Los Angeles and got his
first guitar when he was
young but didn’t start seri-
ously playing until he was in
college at UC Santa Cruz in
Santa Cruz, California.
“While I was at college
I was playing small open
mics and really beginning to
write and perform,” he said.
Craigie was studying
math on a path to become
a math teacher, but that
proved to not be his forte.
“I graduated with that
degree but after an unsuc-
cessful teaching job, I
decided to go out on the
road and truly pursue
music,” he said.
At the time, he was based
north of the San Francisco
Bay and was doing small
tours in the area, playing
anywhere that would take
him — coffee shops, house
shows — and over time, he
built up a following.
S ince then, Craigie
moved up to the Portland
area and has released many
albums and EPs over the
years. Craigie has been
described as a “modern-
day troubadour” in the style
of Woody Guthrie and
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. His
music and performance style
has been compared to John
Prine, and Mitch Hedberg,
with influences of Pete
Seeger and Arlo Guthrie.
Craigie’s inspiration for
his songs comes from life
experiences.
“I write a lot about
human interactions and life
events and stories I hear out
on the road touring,” he said.
Craigie is very much into
camping and adventures, but
has never thought of himself
as being a songwriter about
nature and the world around
him.
“I never thought of
myself as a John Denver-
type writing a song about a
waterfall, it would have to
be about a person with this
waterfall,” he said.
Out on the road is where
Craigie gets the most inspi-
ration for his songs, but dur-
ing these times of musical
performances being on hold,
he has had to adapt.
During the pandemic,
with touring not happen-
ing, Craigie has taken a
more relaxed approach to
his writing and “recording
in a relaxed way without any
pressure, when normally this
is a really hectic time, I am
able to slow down,” he said.
Craigie has also been
taking this time to connect
with fans and respond to the
many messages he has got-
ten and never been able to
respond to.
“ I ’ve been chec king
those neglected inboxes and
reaching out to my fans and
responding back,” he said.
Craigie has done a few
livestream shows from his
home in Portland, but it is
not his preferred medium of
performance.
“It is not my favorite
because I am such a story-
teller songwriter that inter-
acts with the audience, so
I’ve really been trying to
focus on the writing,” he
said.
This summer Craigie has
also been able to get out and
camp a lot more than he
usually can during the sum-
mer touring months.
In June of this year,
Craigie released his most
recent record, “Asterisk the
Universe.” The record was
named after the title of his
math graduate thesis.
“It was about infinity and
about the notion that has
to do with modern faith in
the fact that we do believe
in infinity but it is a concept
that is broad so there is an
asterisk on our idea of the
universe as a whole,” he said.
Craigie recorded the
album with a full band to
enhance the listening expe-
rience, but he usually tours
and plays solo to emphasize
the storytelling aspect.
Craigie is looking for-
ward to performing some of
these new songs during his
sets at the Close to Home 2
event.
“I am just excited to per-
form in general; this will
be the first regular type of
performance with an audi-
ence and other musicians in
five months,” he said. “I am
thankful to Sisters for put-
ting this together safely and
to have the opportunity to
perform again.”
For more information,
visit the Sisters Folk Festival
on Instagram and Facebook
as well as their website at
www.sistersfolkfestival.org.
“I am thankful to
Sisters for putting this
together safely and to
have the opportunity
to perform again.”
— John Craigie
PHOTO BY BRADLEY COX
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