Q. So, Redwood Son was named Best New Artist at the 2011 Portland Music Awards. Did you see this coming? Has it had any effect on your visibility in and around the Portland music scene?
A. You know . . . so far, it hasn’t really had much of an effect – but that might be my own fault. An Award like this is all in the eye of the beholder (in my opinion) and for whatever reason, I just haven’t felt in necessary to plug it much around town. Some People know about it though. For the most part, it seems like one of those things that can have way more impact OUT of town, as opposed to Local.
Q. You say this particular music venture began with a search for the perfect sound to represent your childhood in the California Redwoods, with “an obvious affinity for the Great Northwest.” How do you feel you’ve captured this sentiment in your music?
A. Well, I must admit that quote is a bit out dated, but if it was written . . . I must have meant it in “some” capacity. Basically it was intended to speak to the SOUL of the Great Northwest and capture some of the laid-back grooves of the Northern California Coast. It has a bit of depth, but stays fairly simple and straight forward – with a message of the struggles we all share.
Q. Ostensibly, you don’t concern yourself with labels. But the phrase “West Coast Americana” is repeatedly applied to your sound, and doesn’t seem far off the mark. Are there other descriptive phrases — as opposed to restrictive labels — that express your musical intent?
A. Ha ha . . . nice one! You got me.
Well, I was actually advised by an industry mentor of sorts, to come up with at least a “catch phrase” or simple tag line/genre code. Although my nature goes against that in most every way, it did seem appropriate to find something authentic to ME /Redwood Son. It doesn’t mean I ever avoid having to explain what the meaning of “West Coast Americana”, but it feels closer to my own in some way.
Soul – Folk – Lyrically driven Groove – Community Roots Music (these are some other phrases) but I truly love so many genres of music that I just don’t ever want to be categorized as one kind of artist, making one kind of style of music.
Kings of Leon have a specific niche. Ben Harper has a musical bag of tricks —- I like em both, but tend to gravitate towards variety.
Q. You work with an incredible list of talented musicians live on stage. Are there any particular standouts you’d like to mention, or would that be playing favorites . . .?
A. That would be playing favorites I think, but I can safely say that Kipp Crawford was my all time favorite musician to play with by far!
Q. I’m dying to know more about the GAP in-store performance that yielded all those attractive photos on your website. What was that all about? 
A. Oh GOD – That was somethin’ else! We all got a FREE pair of jeans for that one… which was obviously worth (every minute of) it. The photos were taken by Chance’s friend who came down and tried to make us feel like we were doing something important I think.
Q. I was fortunate enough to catch you live at Southeast Portland’s Aladdin Theater recently. At one point, you heckled audience members as they left before the end of your set, suggesting something along the lines that they run along home so they could get to bed early to prepare for an important Saturday of sleeping in and reading the paper. I think you called yourself . . . feisty, was it? Could you talk a little about this fluid dynamic you have with your audience? You seem like a very hands on performer, as it were.
A. Ouch! Eek and all those words. (Hope I didn’t offend You.)
I was particularly annoyed with some other aspects of that show, and it may have come out on those folks leaving. Honestly, who am I to blame them for not being blown away enough to stick around I suppose? We started far too late but I rolled the dice & lost that one.
Regardless – my stage presence is very interactive and the fluid dynamic is the same as it’s been since I started performing live. Maybe it has something to do with my resistance to structure, or maybe I feel most comfortable when we are all “communicating” with one another. That is my own little way of including everyone & inviting them into my living room if You will. It’s with good intent I swear.
Q. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us! Anything on the immediate horizon for Redwood Son that we should be on the lookout for? New releases, important gigs, plans for world domination?
A. Thank YOU so much for giving your time to come to a show and write something about Me. This has been a very crazy venture and I hope that everyone could just start to keep an eye out for Redwood Son as this vision evolves. The truth is that I have been doing music full-time for 5 years (as of this release) and I didn’t start playing guitar / writing songs till just a couple years prior to that… so my career is young & I am still learning a great deal about all of it. Hopefully most folks will be patient enough and interested enough to continue listening, supporting, inquiring, etc. while this journey finds its true authentic vehicle (i.e. Band & Sound) along the way.
Really appreciate it Camille.
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Redwood Son on Reverb Nation. Redwood Son official site. Redwood Son live on stage.
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