14
FEBRUARY 9–16, 2022
SOUND CHECK
WHAT’S PLAYING AROUND
THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Virtual Tunesmith Night set for Feb. 12
Go! staff
TUNESMITH NIGHT
Virtual music showcase
featuring Janis Carper,
Carolyn Lochert and
Gregory Rawlins
Saturday, Feb. 12, 7 p.m.
Streamed live at www.
wvmusicalliance.org and on
WVMA’s YouTube channel
E
NTERPRISE — The Wal-
lowa Valley Music Alliance
continues their 16th season of
Tunesmith Night with a virtual
show on Saturday, Feb. 12.
The showcase of original
music will be streamed live to
WVMA’s YouTube channel and
the Music Alliance website,
www.wvmusicalliance.org. It
starts at 7 p.m.
The show features song-
writers Janis Carper, Carolyn
Lochert and Gregory Rawlins.
Carper is an award-winning
songwriter, singer and guitarist
who has a dozen recordings to
her credit. Her vocals, masterful
guitar playing and well-crafted
songs have been heard at
festivals, concert halls and radio
programs nationwide. Her skills
as accompanist, producer and
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Wallowa Valley Music Alliance/Contributed image
Tunesmith Night on Saturday, Feb. 12, features songwriters Carolyn Lochert, Gregory Rawlins and Janis Carper.
teacher broaden the scope of
her musical endeavors. Carper
has an ability to craft lyrics and
melodies that reach into the
heart and mind. Her solid guitar
playing supports songs that grip
the listener — from the somber
and reflective to the light and
humorous, reflecting influences
such as Bonnie Raitt, Rosanne
Cash and Lucinda Williams.
Carper lives in Enterprise with
her two dogs.
Lochert’s music is heavily
influenced by the likes of Etta
James, Billie Holiday, Abbey
Lincoln and Aretha Franklin.
Her career has taken her from
singing lead in rock, country
and funk bands to playing in the
horn sections of jazz ensembles.
Studying composition at OSU
started her on the path to writing
her own music. Her first album,
“She’s Lookin’ Back,” features
Lochert’s smooth, sultry sound
and musicians from Portland and
Wallowa County.
Lochert and Carper have
been performing as the duo Je-
zebel’s Mother for several years.
Rawlins grew up on the Key
Peninsula of Western Washing-
ton — technically in south Port
Orchard but closer to smaller
forest villages like Wauna and
Burley, both on the cusp of
Kitsap and Pierce counties. All
of these locations, according to
Rawlins, “are seamless when it
comes to the fresh and salt wa-
terways, and the bountiful flora:
the blackberries, the salmonber-
ries, thimbleberries, sword ferns,
bracken ferns and maidenhair,
the moss, the nettles and the
mushrooms.” Such elements, he
said, have served as the long-
lasting catalyst for his natural
reverence, sense of adventure
and creative inspiration.
Since 2007, Rawlins has
overseen the composition of 13
full-length albums and two EPs,
spanning genres of rock, Ameri-
cana, folk, psychedelic, ambient
and experimental.
He’s also an actor — Raw-
lins played the role of Duke
Orsino in the 2018 La Grande
Shakespeare Co. production of
“Twelfth Night” and was most
recently cast as John Merrick in
“The Elephant Man” at Eastern
Oregon University in 2019. He is
currently enrolled as a student of
the Masters of Fine Arts Creative
Writing program at EOU.