Acoustic Conversations

“Leave Oregon. It’s the first song I play when I hit the stage in Nashville … but it really is OH-re-gon,” Tyler Stenson tells us, noting with pride that even though he’s moved to Nashville, he remembers his roots. He’s in Portland for a CD release tour,

“When I was a kid, I think it was when I was in high school … I made this decision that I wanted to start focusing on really doing things, instead of just watching,” says Matthew Price. So he learned to juggle. And play the guitar. And to write music. W

If there’s a gimmick to Jake Oken-Berg, it’s the run for Mayor. That’s what gets you to ask, what’s up with this guy? But that’s where the gimmick ends. Because it turns out, he’s as stone serious about politics as he is about his music. And when you clos

“For me, the musicians that I like are the ones that are somehow tapping into the universe,” says James Jeffrey-West. And he says it with total and complete authenticity. He says it, too, while talking about Buddy Guy and Jimmy Hendrix, among other musica

“I’ve gotten really into Dollhouse,” says Lisa Forkish. “My whole family is obsessed with Joss Whedon.” And yet, somehow, her music stands in stark contrast this geek cred. Forkish exists deeply. Her songs are calculated and considerate, showing off her b

“I think a lot of my earlier songs were all about relationships. Mostly that went wrong,” says Justin Jude of his early songwriting. Much is going right for Jude, whose tone and tenor has taken on a rich storytelling vibe that makes his music varied and e

“I figured if I was going to write this kind of music, I was going to need a murder ballad,” says Dustin Pattison in a gentle tenor of his tune Peace With God. And it’s with that same soft-spoken demeanor that the singer-songwriter walks us through his li

Matt Vrba isn’t pure folk. He isn’t pure country. He certainly isn’t pure rock and roll. But somewhere in there, somewhere munged between the blues licks and jazz, up under the trucker cap and faded jeans, there’s a storyteller with grace of the greats an

Sam Wegman has been playing the guitar since he was 12. So what, right? Thing is, the guy is now just 19, a college student and dorm room troubadour, turning out some insanely catchy riffs and razor-sharp lyrics. This week on the show, we talk with Sam ab

Tyler Stenson calls his music “Epic Folk”, a fusion of country, folk, and rock. It is at once a grab bag of honest storytelling and cutting lyricism that he deftly illustrates with his guitar. This week on the show, we talk with Tyler about growing up in