Musicians
 Shireen Amini
Shireen Amini is a 24-year-old Bend-based singer-songwriter who was born in Puerto Rico, raised in a suburb of San Francisco, and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Ethnomusicology at UCLA. At age 6, she began her musical rendezvous with classical piano and eventually veered toward folk-pop guitar with which she began developing her voice and songwriting abilities. Puerto Rican family gatherings incited a new passion for tropical polyrhythmic music, which became her gateway to studying music from all over the world. When channeled through her voice and guitar, her long-running & eclectic musical background emerge as her own brand of globalized folk-funk with strong roots in African-American music spanning the Motown sound to 1990s rhythm & blues/hip-hop. Her lyrics are deeply heartfelt and humorous as she sings with gospel spirit and Stevie Wonder-esque soul. Beneath her melodies, she lays down grooves on guitar with a uniquely World-influenced percussive style. In her full band format, she pieces together an up-lifting blend of original songs and 90s covers while creating an exciting onstage dynamic. You can expect anything from beautifully melodic bass and guitar duets to straight groovin' percussion breakdowns.
She lives a musical double life as a sit-in percussionist on her specialty instrument, the Afro-Peruvian cajón, as well as congas with which she accompanies various local acts. In 2007, Shireen released her first album, an EP entitled Turnaround. Currently, she finds inspiration in the beautiful surroundings of Central Oregon, where she is working on her second album to be released by spring of 2010. |
Joe Schulte
Joe Schulte and The Moon Mountain Ramblers (Acoustic Americana) from Bend, Oregon, have drawn five musicians together to create an original high desert sound and a soulful interpretation of traditional bluegrass, jazz/swing and country tunes. The Ramblers have stayed true to the music and have established the band as the most popular musical group in Central Oregon. Voted best band by The Source Weekly in 2004, 2008 and 2009. Along with the success of their three albums, ("Moon Mountain Ramblers" '02, "Borderline" '04, "Let It All Be Good"'09) selling out rooms through-out central Oregon, as well as hosting their own Moon Mountain Music Festival in its second year. The Moon Mountain Ramblers look to explore new musical markets and towns in the upcoming year. The Ramblers are also pleased to announce the release there much anticipated "Live" album due spring 2010. |
Leif James
"Leif James has the kind of voice that drives an audience to chain-smoke and binge on coffee. It is smoky, deep, raspy, and soulful, and has that roughness that brings to mind the most compelling blues legends. " Matt Wice, MUSE Magazine (9/05) Ithaca, New York
Leif James: Recording Artist Leif James’ soul captivating Americana Rock style is an experience in sublime styling and passionate compositions. His intense and powerful live shows serve to showcase his natural talents as a gifted songwriter, vocalist, and performer.
With a memorable voice and sincere lyrics, Leif James creates original music without sounding recycled. He opts to sing and play from his heart, as he feels there is nothing more enlightening or satisfying than sharing your soul with an audience. When asked to name the influences in his life, Leif James replies, "Everything from whiskey nights and sad luck days, to the smell of a sweet southern wind. " Leif James listens to the likes of Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, Karl Denson, Ben Harper, Tom Waits, and Leo Kotke (to name a few from a long list of timeless artists), but the distinctiveness of his voice eludes any specific comparison. |
Tyler Fortier
When Tyler Fortier (pronounced For-teer) sat down to create his new record, Pale Moon Rise, he didn’t know exactly where the project would take him, but he did have one mission in mind: he wanted to create an utterly complete album. He wouldn’t settle for merely a collection of enough cut-and-pasted songs to constitute a full-length record, but rather wished to record a melding of songs that felt like a thorough novel, not merely a collection of short stories.
Pale Moon Rise is just that – a complete and diverse collection of songs tied together by Fortier’s deeply observant lyrics and precise arrangements. It’s very much the novel he set out to author before devoting nearly nine months to writing and then self-producing the album – much of which was laid down at a friend’s home studio.
The 23-year-old songwriter currently calls Eugene, Oregon home, but has roots scattered throughout the Northwest. In contrast to his eclectic Americana styles heard on Pale Moon Rise, Fortier spent his teen years playing in pop punk bands in Vancouver, Washington. After heading south to attend college in Eugene, Fortier recorded and played shows under the name 11th Avenue Hopeloss as well as The Waverly Plan before ditching the alter-egos and recording two albums under his real name. The first was 2006’s When the Sun Hits the Water, a studio-produced record featuring a collection of skilled session musicians. The following year, Fortier pulled a stylistic 180-degree turn when he released Drunk, an album he describes as "raw and stripped down.” The last two years has also seen the songwriter playing solo acoustic shows all over the Northwest, and especially in his hometown of Eugene.
Pale Moon Rise is again a reinvention for Fortier, and while the record possesses the spirit of the previous two releases, it’s varying sounds from track to track place it a notch above those records. The album at times includes big horn-filled moments that highlight Fortier’s ability to construct and produce a well-wrought track, but the very next song can turn a complete corner, leaving you dripping in bluesy guitar breakdowns.
"I hate trying to stuff my music into a genre. Recently, whenever I have to describe my music I just call it Americana. But even that’s pretty broad,” Fortier says.
In essence, the album is Americana in its truest definition. Pale Moon Rise takes a bit of blues, some soul, hints of country, a lot of rock and roll and a myriad of other microcosmic influences that fall under the same Americana umbrella. Fortier belongs to a generation of songwriters best represented by Ryan Adams and Conor Oberst who create music that’s a reflection of what they grew up listening to, as well as what’s currently playing in the background. The result is music that’s unintentionally Americana, yet strikingly modern and indicative of a collection of influences and generations.
"When I was writing this album, I was listening to a lot of Muddy Waters, as well as Tom Petty and Jackson Browne,” Fortier says.
And these influences are definitely heard on Pale Moon Rise –sometimes on their own, but mostly all at once. The title track of the record is a soaring and melodic tune with touches of alternative county and pop rock that features some of Fortier’s strongest lyrical compositions. "When He Rides” rips out of the gates in a rocking blues package, then accelerates into a chorus that’s upbeat enough to hint at Fortier’s punk rock upbringing. On "More Than I Know,” Fortier strips down to just his voice, a softly strummed guitar and a harmonica that allows us to hear the potential of the emerging folk star’s songwriting ability. And for Fortier, songwriting is just something that happens, not something he ever pushes on himself.
"I don’t usually know what I’m writing about until way after the fact, but then I’ll look back and I’ll be amazed when I realize what it means. It’s kind of crazy that things just channel out of you that you’re not even thinking about, but you’re really feeling,” Fortier says.
Fortier conveys this feeling throughout the record, which is why it’s hard to listen through Pale Moon Rise without feeling something– or very likely, a lot of things. |
1130 NW Harriman St, Ste. 122 ‹› Bend, OR 97701 ‹› 541.389.1618 ‹› 541.383.2826 fax
Madras 541.475.9426 ‹› Prineville 541.447.7220
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