Tag Archives: Lewi Longmire

TMFWP Special: Live From The Helm, Vol. 3

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Mamma Coal celebrated the release of her widely anticipated album “Raven Haired Vixen” with a visit to The Helm. That’s 2016 Oregon Music Hall of Fame inductee Paul Brainard riding shotgun. Photo by Anne Marie for Local Hero Media (www.localheromedia.com).

Stream or download Live From The Helm, Vol. 3:  Live From The Helm Vol. 3

There were a lot of things about 2016 we’d like to forget — it was a year of staggering losses for both the music world and the great wide world in general. Still, our team at That Much Further West Podcast had much to be thankful for, namely the incredible roster of guests we hosted at The Helm for podcast episodes this year.

From start to finish, this year marked a great leap forward for the podcast. The team decided to narrow the focus, dedicating the entirety of each episode to our individual guests. That way we learned more about their histories, their influences, their hopes and dreams and their immediate plans for the future. All celebrated remarkable successes this year and we were happy to promote their fine work and proud to host them in our subterranean home in Portland — The Helm!

Nick Foltz of Lowlight added his usual heavy dose of cool to The Helm scene in 2016. Photo by Anne Marie for Local Hero Media (www.localheromedia.com).

We were pleased to rope in some more out-of-towners this year, including Seattle’s Evening Bell and national acts John Moreland and Aaron Lee Tasjan. We also were thrilled to highlight the great work being down by local longtime friends like Mamma Coal, Nick Foltz of Lowlight and Birger Olsen. We even made some great new friends in Kory Quinn and Taylor Kingman of the Hill Dogs, and hooked up with local legends such as Willy Vlautin of Richmond Fontaine and the mighty Fernando. All were incredibly inspiring to the team.

Still, 2016 will be remembered for our many musical losses, one big electoral loss and another that’s particularly personal to our team. We said goodbye the father of our Hoot, our friend Chuck Noland, a loss that proved particularly devastating. That’s why we wrap up “Live From The Helm, Vol. 3” with a beautiful tribute to Chuck by Maria Francis and Jeff Overbo of Silver Lake 66. In a year full of tears, there wasn’t a dry eye in The Helm during that performance.

But as we reflect on the past year before turning the calendar page, enjoy this collection of songs we proudly share here with you. We’ll see you in 2017!

Here’s the playlist:

Memphis Rain, Aaron Lee Tasjan
Our Horse Barn, Kris Stuart
Ride Through The Night, Mamma Coal
Three Brothers Roll Into Town, Willy Vlautin
In The Shadow Of The Tower Of Babel, Kory Quinn
Devil’s House, Evening Bell
A Lovely Conversation, The Harmed Brothers
Life Of The Party, Stars Of Cascadia
You Look As Sweet, Birger Olsen
Mother Mountain, The Hill Dogs
Bloodlines, Lowlight
This Very Hour, McDougall
Wasted And Waiting My Saturday Night, Lewi & Anita
Late Bloomer, Matthew Lindley
True Instigator, Fernando
Walk Away, Silver Lake 66

Our podcast hosts, at home in The Helm, left to right: Mike Lee, Eric Kotila and Phil Favorite.

Episode #75 featuring Lewi & Anita

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Lewi Longmire and Anita Lee Elliott holding down the bar at The Helm. Photo by Anne Marie for Local Hero Media (www.localheromedia.com)

Stream or download Episode #75:  Episode 75 w/ Lewi & Anita

They formed a musical partnership by trading riffs and harmonies and trying out new songs and ideas as a duo. But Portland favorites Lewi Longmire and Anita Lee Elliott share deep roots that appear to be growing stronger as time passes.

For Episode #75 of That Much Further West Podcast, the singer/guitarists visited The Helm to talk about working together as a duo, how their musical careers have evolved after more than a decade in the Portland music scene, as well as their connection as the six-string aces for Brothers & Sister, their circa-’71 Allman Brothers Band cover project.

Lewi is known in the Portland Americana scene as a terrific band leader for The Left Coast Roasters and the Portland Country Underground and also as a contributor to more musical projects than imaginable, including Denver, Ducky Pig and Fernando. Anita is a tried-and-true, real-deal rock star, having established herself as a world class talent fronting Viva Voce and Blue Giant, singing backup with The Shins and as an ongoing member of the amazing country-folk trio Calico Rose.

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Lewi & Anita, filling The Helm with musical goodness. Photo by Anne Marie for Local Hero Media.

Here they share a number of songs from their personal partnership, in which they take turns leading original and cover tunes. We also weave in a few songs from their various projects: a live performance by Brothers & Sister featuring Lewi on lead vocal and Anita on slide guitar; another by Calico Rose with Anita singing lead; and a tune from the Lewi Longmire Band album “Tales of The Left Coast Roasters.”

The two currently are gearing up for for the biggest Brothers & Sisters show yet, the “Summer Jam” at Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, CA. Hosted by Phil Lesh & Friends, the Sept. 17 show is meant to re-create a 1973 summer concert that featured The Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers Band and The Band.

In the meantime, the pair will keep working together as Lewi & Anita, a local project that continues to delight their fans in our fair hometown of Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. So dial it in and turn it up — it’s Episode #75!

Here’s the playlist:

New Old Joe Clark (Live In The Helm), Lewi & Anita
Done Somebody Wrong, Brothers & Sister
Live With Love (Live In The Helm), Lewi & Anita
Honey In The Rock, Calico Rose
Wasted And Waisting My Saturday Night (Live In The Helm), Lewi & Anita
At Least In My Mind, Lewi Longmire Band
Movin’ So Slow (Live In The Helm), Lewi & Anita

TMFWP Special: Portland Country Underground — An Appreciation

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The lads of Portland Country Underground in their native habitat, Laurelthirst Public House (l to r): David Lipkind, Darrin Craig, David Reisch, Lewi Longmire, Ben Nugent and Jason Montgomery.

Stream or download TMFWP Special:
Portland Country Underground — An Appreciation: PCU Podcast Special

By PHIL FAVORITE
For That Much Furhter West Podcast
Since forming about five years ago as a Monday night happy hour band at the Laurelthirst Public House, Portland Country Underground, or PCU as they are known, has had a handful of individual lineup changes. But in terms of talent, the band has been a model of consistency, providing their fun-loving fans with songs from a catalog that spans the history of Americana music and often dips into the obscure and inspirational.

The current PCU lineup features longtime members Darrin Craig on rhythm guitar, Lewi Longmire on lead guitar, David Lipkind on harmonica, Dave Reisch on bass and relative newcomers Ben Nugent on drums and Jason Montgomery on pedal steel and lap steel guitar. All are respected veterans of the Portland music scene, and Reisch provides a direct link to Portland’s past — he was a member of the Holy Modal Rounders, plays with trippy-hippy veterans the Freak Mountain Ramblers, and when singing with PCU leads the band through a few songs made famous by fellow Portland alt-country and folk pioneers such as Jeffrey Frederick.

Kansas-born W.C. Beck was an original member of PCU and added a healthy dose of Midwest authenticity to the act, which you can hear on his song “Poor Man.” Like a few other former members of the band, he has since moved away from Portland but usually sits in with PCU when he returns here for visits. His cousin Darrin Craig, another Kansan, keeps that Midwestern vibe in tact, which you can hear when he sings “Pray For Rain.”

That song features some supernatural harmonica playing by David Lipkind, who occasionally takes lead vocal duties and is always at the ready to add some sweet harmonies or drop an insane harp solo when called on by the band’s live traffic cop, Lewi Longmire. When he’s not ripping a hot guitar solo of his own, Longmire is calling the shots, passing out solos between Lipkind and Montgomery or taking lead singing duties on songs by artists as varied as Mel Tillis, Ronnie Lane and Jimbo Mathis. He occasionally adds an original tune to the mix, such as the one we share here, “Baby, Would You Take Me Home.”

Needless to say, we’re huge fans and admirers of PCU, who sit at the top of sweet list of top-notch alt-country happy hour bands that we’re privileged to enjoy here in Portland.

You can catch Portland Country Underground for free on the first, second, fourth Monday of every month from 6 to 8 p.m. at Laurelthirst Public House. If you do, be sure to tip the band and your bartenders.

A special podcast thank you to our pal and local recording guru Greg Fuller for providing us with these wonderful sound files. Feel free to stream or download the individual tracks from this special edition of the podcast.

Stream or Download “Poor Man” here:  Poor Man

Stream or download “Pray For Rain” here: Pray For Rain

Stream or download “Baby, Would You Take Me Home?” here: Baby, Would You Take Me Home?