Episode #87 featuring James Low

James Low brought his world-class folk to Portland’s famous little honky tonk, Landmark Saloon, for Episode #87 of That Much Further West Podcast. Photo by Anne Marie for Local Hero Media.

Stream or download Episode #87: Episode 87 w/ James Low

Welcome to That Much Further West Podcast, Version 3.0. We’ve moved on from The Helm, our underground headquarters for the past four years, and have returned to our roots, relaunching from a very public place — the stage at the legendary Landmark Saloon in Portland, OR, U.S.A.

And who better to have as our first guest at Landmark than the great singer-songwriter James Low, himself a Portland institution who has returned to his roots and relaunched. Following a four-year stay with his wife in Malaysia, the couple recently returned to Portland having added a beautiful baby daughter to their family.

Quite a bit has changed around here since James was a guest on the podcast way back in its earliest days, when co-hosts Mike Lee and Eric Kotila ran the show live from the Hawthorne Theater Lounge. But the talented Mr. Low remains an institution, delighting local audiences with his world-class country folks songs.

James Low, laying it down on the stage of Portland’s Lil’ Opry, the Landmark Saloon, for That Much Further West Podcast. Photo by Anne Marie for Local Hero Media.

On Episode #87, James performs a handful of classics from his catalog, including a pair from his stunning breakthrough record, 2012’s “Whiskey Farmer.” He also talks about his time in Malaysia, the positive impact of his daughter’s arrival and the folk influences that seeped into his DNA as young man growing up in Eastern Oregon.

James is back to playing regular dates in the Portland area, and will be one of the featured artists in a couple of weeks at Wanderfest, a two-day music festival taking place June 29 and 30 at the Dundee Lodge in Gaston, OR. Please watch our calendar for featured show dates, and click here for tickets and more information about Wanderfest.

We’re looking forward to sharing more episodes as the year goes on with hopes of improving the experience for our guests, team and live listeners at Landmark Saloon. So please stay tuned!

In the meantime, enjoy this latest episode featuring the great James Low. We think you’re gonna dig it!

December Podcast Picks

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Nikki Lane’s new full-length LP “Highway Queen” will be hitting the streets in February 2017.

Stream or download our December Podcast Picks:  December Podcast Picks

She’s logged a lot of road miles since the release of her breakthrough 2014 breakthrough album “All Or Nothin” and now Nikki Lane is ready to take the world by storm with “Highway Queen,” the much anticipated follow up due early next year.

We kick off our December Podcast picks with the title track from the record, which Rolling Stone.com describes as “an amalgam of gritty twang, dirty blues and a whip-smart taste for dangerously delightful melody” — in other words, more of what we’ve come to love from the sassy, stylish outlaw country chanteuse. After “Highway Queen” hits the streets, Ms. Lane and her band will hit the road for an extensive tour that includes a stop at California’s Stagecoach Festival in April.

Nikki is just one of several of our favorite female singers featured among this month’s podcast picks. Amanda Shires’ new record, “My Piece of Land,” is receiving across-the-board praise while Lydia Loveless continues to tour behind her genre-busting Bloodshot Records LP “Real,” released in August. We also have an official outtake celebrating the 20th anniversary of Gillian Welch’s debut album “Revival,” and a song from Courtney Marie Andrews’ much (rightly so) praised “Honest Life” record, released this past summer by Portland-based Mama Bird Recording Co.

We also added a little modern rock muscle to the mix with cuts from Two Cow Garage, Drunken Prayer and Blackberry Smoke, but still managed to keep it country with songs old and new by the likes Billy Don Burns, Western Centuries, Chris Stalcup and Brent Cobb. And we always seem to find a way to salute the forefathers, with a careful nod to a legend lost, the great Leonard Cohen.

So dial it up. These should help hold you through the holidays. Here’s the playlist for our December Podcast Picks:

Highway Queen, Nikki Lane
Continental Distance, Two Cow Garage
Keith Whitley Blue, Billy Don Burns
Gold, The Handsome Family
The Old You, Western Centuries
You Are My Home, Amanda Shires
Fell Into The Sun, Drunken Prayer
Chickenhawks and Jesus Freaks, Tom Heyman
Me and the Whiskey, Whitey Morgan and the 78’s
Midwestern Guys, Lydia Loveless
Burnin’ Up These Highways, Chris Stalcup
Drinking, Cheating, Loving and Leaving, Adam Lee and the Dead Horse Sound Company
Show Me, Neil Young
Merry Christmas From The Family, Robert Earl Keen
Go On Downtown (Revival Outtake), Gillian Welch
Diggin’ Holes, Brent Cobb
Sunrise In Texas, Blackberry Smoke
15 Highway Lines, Courtney Marie Andrews
Chelsea Hotel #2, Leonard Cohen