Jeffrey Silverstein / Cosmic Gnarly

$12 Advance // $15 Day Of Show
6pm Doors / 7pm Show
All Ages
JEFFREY SILVERSTEIN
Jeffrey Silverstein returns in 2023 with his second full-length release: Western Sky Music. Based in Portland, Silverstein channels the natural beauty of his adopted Pacific Northwest into guitar-driven explorations of inner landscapes. The nine tracks that make up Western Sky Music advance the terrestrial themes of How on Earth EP (2019), You Become the Mountain (2020), and Torii Gates EP (2021) while lifting Silverstein’s sound to sweeping new promontories. Tracked live in a studio with minimal overdubs, Western Sky Music is a testament to what trust and synchronicity can achieve in the pursuit of radiant stillness.
Silverstein is once again joined by frequent collaborators Barry Walker Jr. (pedal steel guitar) and Alex Chapman (bass), as well as by a host of new collaborators. Filling out the quartet, Dana Buoy’s (Akron/Family) drums lend the band’s textures a deeper, more richly spontaneous sound. You can find it reverberating in the stoned country swing of “Cowboy Grass,” which passes through phases of tension and lightness to dwell on the necessity of release. “I was crying in my dream, putting the dog to sleep,” Silverstein sings, “Yeah it was about time, I stopped to let it all out.” These tracks are built around a discipline of attention and a collective practice of focusing on the present moment. Silverstein describes the emphatic “Chet” as an example of the fortuitous accidents that can result from such a practice. Born from a skipping Chet Atkins record, the track pulses and grooves as guitarist William Tyler layers his signature desert tones onto its insistent rhythm. Everything comes together on the windswept “Sunny Jean,” a love song for Silverstein’s partner. Taking inspiration from a Patti Smith speech and a scene from Easy Rider, the track brims with gratitude for connection (“And I’m thankful for that window in”) and the qualities that close, loving attention reveals: “A quiet confidence, a sense of permanence.”
The record was once again recorded by Ryan Oxford at Color Therapy. Amid spiraling textures of sound, “Birdsong” closes the record with guest vocals from Karima Walker. “Will I live to see our new reality?” she sings. “And if we’re all just walking each other home?” These are fitting questions for an album centered on collaboration and movement. Western Sky Music is a warm invitation to undertake the journey together.
COSMIC GNARLY
‘Let the music play the band’ is the collective mindset for Portland, Oregon’s Cosmic Gnarly as they pay respect to the spirit, energy, and improvisational magic of the legendary American rock band, the Grateful Dead.
Born strictly as a fun project safe from the hustle of other music and professional pursuits, these exploratory sessions cultivated an extensive repertoire of Grateful Dead tunes. Each member’s admiration for the Dead shines through in every set, as they strive to honor the natural flow and spirit of these timeless songs.
Always a hoot!
COSMIC GNARLY is:
Peter Bowhan: Guitar
Ryan Bukstein: Percussion
Peter Christenberry: Guitar, Vox
Dana Buoy: Drums, Vox
Alan Moses: Keyboards
Chris Petryszak: Bass