Make Like A Shovel | Crow And The Canyon
By Donovan Farley Jun 2, 2015 • 6:50 am PDT
Words by: Donovan Farley
:: Make Like A Shovel -Crow and the Canyon::
To me, the best kind of traditional American folk music has always been a wonderfully bittersweet blend of yearning and recollection that can wistfully recall loves lost, adventures had, or the ever present call of the road. The music can feel almost ancient and universal, yet still sound so familiar at times it’s as though the dusty troubadour singing wrote the song with you in mind. Whether you’re crying in your beer in a dark honky-tonk or laughing with friends around a campfire, truly effective and heartfelt folk music tugs on the heartstrings while still reminding you that the sun also rises, and that this too shall pass. It’s a deceptively difficult trick to be able to harness these emotions via folk music’s sparse arrangements, but it’s one Portland, Oregon’s Crow and the Canyon, have pulled off in spades.
[Photo by Justin Nunnink]
[Exclusive Premiere -“Stephanie” by Crow and the Canyon (feat. Allie Kral)]
After that fortuitous first show, the foursome dug what they’d created enough to try and make Crow and the Canyon a full time gig, and almost immediately the endeavor proved to be a fruitful one. Austin Quattlebaum (banjo, guitar), Ben Larsen (guitar, mandolin, fiddle, vocals), Miles Berry (upright bass) and Leigh Jones (vocals, percussion, ukulele) carry themselves and sound like a band of seasoned players who have been touring for years. Crow and the Canyon is one of those rare bands that sound familiar as soon as you hear them. You’ll swear you’re listening to music that has already soundtracked a wonderful time in your life, maybe one where you worked on a farm for a summer and fell in love with a beautiful girl in a yellow sundress that never wore shoes. Theirs is the sound of a bonfire and friends passing a bottle and recalling the good times past, while hoping more are around the bend.
From their goosebump-inducing harmonies that feature Jones’ angelic singing soaring above the wave of male voices supporting her, to their wonderfully on point instrumentals, C&tC are able to recall acts like Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings and The Civil Wars, but combined with the focus on musicianship of acts like Greensky Bluegrass.
When I connected with the band via email this week, they echoed as much, writing:
“Well for older (country) influences we’d have to say, John Hartford and Dolly Parton. Leigh, being from the South, never really tried to sing country music, but found that her voice tends to have a twang by default and stars like Dolly have played influence to that. Other older influences that have inspired us no less: Tim O’Brien, Bela Fleck and the Grateful Dead… as for modern influences: Greensky Bluegrass, Punch Brothers, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings and Annalisa Tornfelt. It also a pleasure to cite our friends and colleagues as big influences: people like Fruition, Brothers Comatose, California Honeydrops, Elephant Revival and the Shook Twins are good friends and big inspirations.”
[Allie Kral with Crow and the Canyon, photo by Caitlin Webb]
The current climate in Portland is one of a city having its moment in the sun so to speak, and the ease and luck with which Crow and the Canyon came to be is in many ways a very Portland-esque tale. After playing that inaugural show and realizing this was a project worth pursuing, things just sort of fell into place for the group, who knew each other through various PDX music connections, including Kral, who introduced Quattlebaum and Larsen.
“When Allie moved to town a few years back she put an ad up on Craigslist advertising fiddle lessons,” the Quattlebaum wrote, “Ben contacted her for lessons and shortly after that she became a frequent featured guest at Giraffe Dodgers shows, Ben’s other band. Austin came through Portland in Fall of 2013 on a solo tour and stayed at her house while in town. While here, she introduced Austin to Ben who had just embarked on an indefinite hiatus from Giraffe Dodgers. She pushed us together and thought it would be a good match. Miles and Leigh came into the fold after Ben and I had been doing some duo shows around town.”
As serendipitous as things have gone for the group thus far, none of this would be happening if the songs weren’t so damned good. One only needs to listen to the group’s performance of the song that is their namesake “Crow and the Canyon” to know this is a new band with an incredibly bright future. “If I was a crow and you were a canyon / I’d still have to leave you, my first love’s the wind” the band sings with an aching beauty so lovely you’ll swear an angel herself is telling you goodbye.
What truly makes the band special though is its ability to have you near tears one moment and have you kicking your shoes off for a hoedown the next. The joy with which the band plays is palpable, both live and on record, and one only needs to take a gander at the miles-wide smiles of both the group on stage and the audience to know this music is affecting people on a very real level.
[Ben Larsen and Leigh Jones, photo by Caitlin Webb]
Whether it’s songs about boozing, songs about loving or songs about leaving, the band’s music has that ever-hard-to-define quality known as “it.” From their natural affability as performers, to their look, to they way they play off the crowd’s reaction live: it’s plain to see that Crow and the Canyon are headed for bigger and better things, and it’s seemingly only a matter of time until they get there. Considering the story thus far, it seems like the only natural progression for this effortlessly talented band.
To me, the best kind of traditional American folk music has always been a wonderfully bittersweet blend of yearning and recollection that can wistfully recall loves lost, adventures had, or the ever present call of the road. The music can feel almost ancient and universal, yet still sound so familiar at times it’s as though the dusty troubadour singing wrote the song with you in mind. Whether you’re crying in your beer in a dark honky-tonk or laughing with friends around a campfire, truly effective and heartfelt folk music tugs on the heartstrings while still reminding you that the sun also rises, and that this too shall pass. It’s a deceptively difficult trick to be able to harness these emotions via folk music’s sparse arrangements, but it’s one Portland, Oregon’s Crow and the Canyon, have pulled off in spades.
It’s not supposed to work this way. The music industry, as Hunter S. Thompson once said about the TV industry, can be a “cruel and shallow money trench… where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs,” so how have things worked out this well for Crow and the Canyon? After forming by chance barely a year ago in order to fill a slot opening for their friends in Brothers Comatose, the Portland-based quartet has seemingly had fate squarely on their side ever since. From garnering praise from both indie and jam music press, to sharing the stage with Yonder Mountain String Band’s Allie Kral, the band has made its mark with incredible quickness.
After making a name for themselves around the Pacific Northwest for their beyond-charismatic live shows, the band has a summer schedule filled with shows and festival dates, and is about to drop their debut record, the excellent Leaving Soon, this week with a show at Portland’s Mississippi Studios (Kral will be joining the band at this show as well).
After that fortuitous first show, the foursome dug what they’d created enough to try and make Crow and the Canyon a full time gig, and almost immediately the endeavor proved to be a fruitful one. Austin Quattlebaum (banjo, guitar), Ben Larsen (guitar, mandolin, fiddle, vocals), Miles Berry (upright bass) and Leigh Jones (vocals, percussion, ukulele) carry themselves and sound like a band of seasoned players who have been touring for years. Crow and the Canyon is one of those rare bands that sound familiar as soon as you hear them. You’ll swear you’re listening to music that has already soundtracked a wonderful time in your life, maybe one where you worked on a farm for a summer and fell in love with a beautiful girl in a yellow sundress that never wore shoes. Theirs is the sound of a bonfire and friends passing a bottle and recalling the good times past, while hoping more are around the bend.
From their goosebump-inducing harmonies that feature Jones’ angelic singing soaring above the wave of male voices supporting her, to their wonderfully on point instrumentals, C&tC are able to recall acts like Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings and The Civil Wars, but combined with the focus on musicianship of acts like Greensky Bluegrass.
When I connected with the band via email this week, they echoed as much, writing:
“Well for older (country) influences we’d have to say, John Hartford and Dolly Parton. Leigh, being from the South, never really tried to sing country music, but found that her voice tends to have a twang by default and stars like Dolly have played influence to that. Other older influences that have inspired us no less: Tim O’Brien, Bela Fleck and the Grateful Dead… as for modern influences: Greensky Bluegrass, Punch Brothers, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings and Annalisa Tornfelt. It also a pleasure to cite our friends and colleagues as big influences: people like Fruition, Brothers Comatose, California Honeydrops, Elephant Revival and the Shook Twins are good friends and big inspirations.”
The current climate in Portland is one of a city having its moment in the sun so to speak, and the ease and luck with which Crow and the Canyon came to be is in many ways a very Portland-esque tale. After playing that inaugural show and realizing this was a project worth pursuing, things just sort of fell into place for the group, who knew each other through various PDX music connections, including Kral, who introduced Quattlebaum and Larsen.
“When Allie moved to town a few years back she put an ad up on Craigslist advertising fiddle lessons,” the Quattlebaum wrote, “Ben contacted her for lessons and shortly after that she became a frequent featured guest at Giraffe Dodgers shows, Ben’s other band. Austin came through Portland in Fall of 2013 on a solo tour and stayed at her house while in town. While here, she introduced Austin to Ben who had just embarked on an indefinite hiatus from Giraffe Dodgers. She pushed us together and thought it would be a good match. Miles and Leigh came into the fold after Ben and I had been doing some duo shows around town.”
As serendipitous as things have gone for the group thus far, none of this would be happening if the songs weren’t so damned good. One only needs to listen to the group’s performance of the song that is their namesake “Crow and the Canyon” to know this is a new band with an incredibly bright future. “If I was a crow and you were a canyon / I’d still have to leave you, my first love’s the wind” the band sings with an aching beauty so lovely you’ll swear an angel herself is telling you goodbye.
What truly makes the band special though is its ability to have you near tears one moment and have you kicking your shoes off for a hoedown the next. The joy with which the band plays is palpable, both live and on record, and one only needs to take a gander at the miles-wide smiles of both the group on stage and the audience to know this music is affecting people on a very real level.
Whether it’s songs about boozing, songs about loving or songs about leaving, the band’s music has that ever-hard-to-define quality known as “it.” From their natural affability as performers, to their look, to they way they play off the crowd’s reaction live: it’s plain to see that Crow and the Canyon are headed for bigger and better things, and it’s seemingly only a matter of time until they get there. Considering the story thus far, it seems like the only natural progression for this effortlessly talented band.
