Episode #85 featuring Wanderlodge & The Deadstring Family Band

Brothers from The Deadstring Family: Matt Cadenelli, Kurtis Brothers and Kris Stuart in The Helm. Photo by Anne Marie for Local Hero Media

Stream or download Episode #85: Episode 85 w/ Wanderlodge/Deadstring Family Band

We’re winding it down at The Helm, our home base for every podcast episode recorded in the 2.0 version of That Much Further West. That’s four-plus great years and 85 episodes featuring some of the best singers and songwriters from the Pacific Northwest and beyond. It’s been a great run and a whole heckuva a lot of fun.

But before we exit The Helm and point the ship toward our next destination, we gathered a few very special friends to record Episode 85: Kris Stuart and Matt Cadenelli, the duo that currently perform as Wanderlodge, and also make up two-fifths of The Deadstring Family Band, led by our other guest, Kurtis Brothers.

The lads stopped in to talk about the two projects and spread the word about Wanderfest, the second-annual music and camping event they’re hosting in Gaston, OR, on June 29 and 30. (Tickets, lineup, more info) With a killer lineup featuring some of the best of the best acts in our local Portland rock, folk and country scene, Wanderfest promises to be an amazing two days of music and revelry.

Matt Cadenelli, Kurtis Brothers and Kris Stuart of The Deadstring Family Band, performing live in The Helm. Photo by Anne Marie for Local Hero Media

Kris and Matt share a live performance of the song “I Want More,” the tune that opens the tour CD they were selling while out on the Wanderlodge Spring Tour through California and Oregon. We add in a couple of recorded songs from a few of the Wanderfest, including tunes from The James Low Western Front and Redray Frazier.

Then Kurtis joins the fray to talk about his move from Nashville to the Pacific Northwest and that fateful weekend in July 2013 when he met all the parties involved at the Wildwood MusicFest & Campout. For Kurtis, who met his wife that same weekend, it was a sign of the changes to come and the twists and turns that led him to relocate from Nashville to Portland.

With Kris and Matt riding shotgun, Kurtis fronts The Deadstring Family Band and leads a set of stellar acoustic performances that prove to be a perfect way for us to cap our time at The Helm.

All the fun, facts, fibs, stories and songs are right here in Episode 85, so kick back and enjoy. Here’s the playlist:

Green Volvo, Wanderlodge
I Want More (Live In The Helm), Wanderlodge
Smile, The Deadstring Brothers
Whiskey Farmer, The James Low Western Front
Like Rain, Redray Frazier
Lucille’s Honky Tonk (Live In The Helm), The Deadstring Family Band
Sacred Heart (Live In The Helm), The Deadstring Family Band
Blindfolded (Live In The Helm), The Deadstring Family Band

August Podcast Picks

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Don’t mess with Mamma Coal. The show is Thursday, August 18 at Mission Theater in Portland. Photo by Chad Lanning Photography

Steam or download our August Podcast Picks: August ’16 podcast picks

“You can’t hang a woman for killing a stranger who’s threatened the life of her babe.” So goes the narrative in Mamma Coal’s ambitious new album “Raven Haired Vixen,” ready for release this month and featured here at the top of our podcast picks for August.

We were lucky enough to have Portland’s Carra Barrett Stasney, aka Mamma Coal, as a guest on That Much Further West Podcast for Episode #63 back in January. She had just Kickstarted her recording project, a story in songs inspired by Willie Nelson’s timeless album “Red Headed Stranger.”

Now the raven-haired Mamma is ready to celebrate with an album release show on Thursday, Aug. 18, at the Mission Theater in Portland. We offer a sneak preview of the record with “Ride Through The Night” topping this month’s podcast picks.

Also featured is new music by several podcast favorites who have new records out, including the inimitable Lydia Loveless, American Aquarium frontman B.J. Barham,  former podcast guests Evening Bell, the mighty Sadler Vaden (best known as lead guitar for Jason Isbell’s band, The 400 Unit) and the fabulous outlaw country practitioner Cody Jinks.

We also have summertime hits from Portland’s Wilkinson Blades, whose excellent album “Home” came out earlier this year, and Western Centuries, who lit up Pickathon earlier this month with a couple of stunning performances.

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Willy Tea Taylor, left, with Chuck Noland in The Barn in Portland.

Finally, we share a collection of songs in salute of a fallen hero. Last week the podcast team lost a dear friend, patriarch and constant source of inspiration — Chuck Noland. He was strong as an ox, tough as nails but tender to the core and taught us that real men can be emotional, thoughtful and kind-hearted without losing a shred of masculinity. Chuck was a man’s man, which is why all who knew him loved him so.

Chuck created a family of friends around his love of music and dancing and enriched our lives more than words can say. And for that we will forever be grateful. R.I.P. buddy, we’ll see you on heaven’s honky tonk hardwood floor.

Here’s the podcast picks for August:

Ride Through The Night, Mamma Coal
Same To You, Lydia Loveless
American Tobacco Company, B.J. Barham
Tail Light, Evening Bell
Watch The World Go By, Wilkinson Blades
You Can’t Have It All, Sadler Vaden
Knockin’ ’em Down, Western Centuries
I’m Not The Devil, Cody Jinks
Rose Marie, Slim Whitman
Burning .44, Chuckanut Drive
Sao Paulo, Deadstring Brothers
The Travelin’ Kind, Tom VandenAvond
Life Is Beautiful, Willy Tea Taylor
Grandpa, Truckstop Darlin’