New Album Cover

     Two weeks from today on Sunday the 13^th of February, the Willapa Hills will be IN our house.  These are not the Willapa Hills across the bay that we see from our easterly windows every day.  These are the Willapa Hills from neighboring Wahkiakum County – six mega-talented musicians who sing of those very hills… and of the bay and the river and the rain…  and of people, past and present, who have made our area what it is. The title of their new CD says it all:  “A Portrait of Place: Songs of the Columbia-Pacific Region.”
     Not quite a year ago – actually it was on my birthday which last year was the final day of February – the group was in concert here and talked about their plans for this very album.  They were on a search, collecting stories and memories from old-timers and mining written works for song possibilities. The results are stunning!
     I don’t pretend to know much about most music genres, but I do know something about folk music.  I’ve been a folkie for years.  Early on I listened to Woody Guthrie and Burl Ives on our old radio/phonograph console. Later, in my college days at Stanford, my friends and I hung out (when we could get to San Francisco and afford the cover charge) at the hungry i and the Purple Onion, listening to Stan Wilson and Glen Yarbrough. to Josh White and the Kingston Trio (who we knew slightly).  Later still,  it was Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, the Limelighters and the music-filled gatherings of friends who collected songs in Appalachia for Alan Lomax.
     So, when I hear the sounds of those familiar ‘folk instruments’ – guitar, banjo, autoharp, fiddle – and when I listen to the tight vocal harmonies of the Willapa Hills, and when I find myself laughing or weeping at their lyrics, I know in my gut that this is the real deal.  This is folk music in its truest sense and it’s all about here.  I love it!
     We are excited to be hosting the group once more and even more excited that their album is out and will be available for sale.  Right here in Oysterville!
     Even though I want every single person I know to be here, space is limited so it’s reservations only.  Give us a shout if you’re interested!