Instrumentals

Piano/Violin/orchestra/Guitar

Here's a preview of the first track off of our new album! 

 lyrics & melody by John Cunnick
John’s note introducing this tune in the Timberbound Songbook describes this as “already a local classic of sorts”, and it has remained such ever since. In contemplating this song, I often think of Hobe Kytr’s observation that the best and most interesting way to write a good song is to describe the specific tools and terms of the kind of work you do. Definitions of “skidder,” “yarder,” and “greenchain” are given in the Songbook, and one can discover a lot of great information about the region and its logging culture at the address below, where they mention the following:

“Vernonia was [starting in the 1920s] the site of the world class Oregon-American sawmill and logging railroads fanned out in all directions to haul logs to this mill. The last and best remembered line went to Keasey and beyond, reaching to Camp Olson near what is now the rest area on the Sunset highway. This was the last logging railroad in Columbia County to be retired.”  - www.vanattabros.com

Boys Of Columbia County

traditional
This is another one of the fiddle tunes that John recorded on mandolin. We knew the tune as “Red Haired Boy” before encountering the Cunnick version, and we have taken the liberty of blending his version of the melody with our own. Many of his instrumental mandolin recordings contain a very sprightly, rather Irish feel that we sought to reflect in our exploration of this glorious melody.

Jenny Estrin - fiddle
Kina Lynn Muir - cello
Gavin Duffy - mandolin
Joe Seamons - banjo
Max Kutzman - bass fist

Recorded by Scott Bergstrom at Dead Aunt Thelma's in SE Portland, Oregon.

Mixed and Mastered by Scott Bergstrom at 21st St Recording in Oakland, CA.

Beggarman

melody: John Cunnick, lyrics: Joe Seamons & Schann Nelson
We include this song to demonstrate another aspect of this music's status in our community. John's songs have inspired others to do as he's done, and write their own lyrics to older melodies. Schann Nelson wrote the verses that you hear sung by Kate Sandgren, while Joe Seamons wrote the verses he sings here. The lyrics:

Cory Colburn’s got his sawmill still at Keasey
Jim and Cici yet recall old souls that fell.*  
Yet the feeling there’s still somehow free and easy.
The loam is rich where cherished memories dwell.

Now over on my end ‘o Columbia County,
Boys are longshoremen or work in paper mills.
But if you stay or move, you celebrate our bounty--
Though it may be that time ain’t ever all you kill.

   You manage to survive on next to nothing,
   Grow gardens, put up food, eat beans and stew,
   And still some have to work down in the valley
   Cause there's nothing' here they'll pay a girl to do.

     Here's to them that cook the meals and clean the laundry
     That keep the house, tote kids and wait at home.
     Here's to the girls of Columbia County
     They ain't got the sense to leave the boys alone.


We sing for them that’s here to share the evening.
And those who’ve hewn the instruments we play.
For those Timberbound souls who carved the music,
And all the ones gone far too soon along the way.

Here’s to John, Jack Ott, Janelle & Charles Coburn.
We hold you close as we try to let you go.
Though memories may dim, your spirits sing here.
Why you left so soon I swear I’ll never know.

   You say goodbye, he leaves before the sunrise
   And say your prayers while waiting' for the phone.
   Do chores all day, chase kids and buy your groceries.
   And greet the loggers happy coming home.

			Chorus & Chorus

*Jim Buxton and Cici Bell still live right down the road from John & Kim's old cabin, which is now next door to Cory Colburn's cabin. When looking through some of Jenelle Wiggins' old photos, I was shocked to learn that Jim--who's now in his seventies--could identify a specific load of lumber logged forty years ago just by seeing a black and white photo of raw logs loaded onto a truck. It was stunning.

Boys of Columbia County (reprise)

Roberto Cacciapaglia - Atlantico

Alexandre Desplat - River

No se quien lo hiso, solo lo subo para compartir. 

Starlight - Muse (Piano Cover)

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Dirk Maassen - Up! (Short Version) - follow @dirk_maassen on instagram

We are folk musicians based in Portland, Oregon. Our mission is to interpret, preserve, and disseminate folk music created in and about the Pacific Northwest. If you know of any songs or musicians who create non-commercial music that depicts the lives and work of fisherman, loggers, longshoremen, or other working folk of our region, then please get in touch with us and let us know all about it!
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