- The Willapa Hills Band
I am passionate about a number of things. Folk music, for instance. Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger and Joan Baez and Peter, Paul and Mary – I’m crazy about them all. And have you seen the movie, “Songcatcher?” Fabulous!
Another of my passions is local history, especially those aspects that might be considered ‘folklore.’ Nothing pleases me more than to run across a new bit of information about the people who lived here in the early days. And if I’m lucky enough to find a diary or journal about the day-to-day life of long ago, I feel I have struck it rich indeed.
Imagine, then, my enthusiasm for the Willapa Hills Band! Based in Wahkiakum County, their current performances are all about local happenings – stories about the past and present in the Lower Columbia Pacific region performed in the grand folk music tradition. I do believe I am in love with them!
They are on the search, collecting stories and memories from old-timers and mining written works for song possibilities. So far, the results are stunning. But they have not stopped there. They are also performing works by other musicians in the area – spreading the word and sharing the music in the manner of folk musicians throughout history.
Unfortunately, their performances are few – only three or four each winter which is the off-season for their “day jobs.” Happily, they will be performing once more this year – Sunday, April 11th at 3:00 at the Cranberry Museum in Long Beach. I intend to be in the audience which will make their third performance I’ve seen this year. That might qualify me as a groupie. I hope so!
