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Willow’s rich, soulful vocals and introspective lyrics imbue the Northwest with a searching intensity. With early influences of gospel and western, along with a passion for raw, lazy music, Willow’s powerfully textured compositions evoke tangible empathies. Her original songs explore experiences of loss, spirituality and home. A HISTORY OF THE BAND...
It was early autumn of 1992.
Living in a run-down studio apartment in Portland OR., with a cheap pawn-shop
guitar, a three chord repertoire, and a lot of time to herself, Willow began
writing songs. With naive enthusiasm, she took her music from the acoustics of
her kitchen to the streets of Portland’s Saturday Market. Three days later,
accompanied by the harmonies of a friend, she performed her first show at the
Satyricon under the name Barefoot & Flowers.
As Willow’s writing style and
guitar playing matured, the mid-nineties found her in Seattle. From the open-mic
scene she quickly made her way to strong performances at the O.K. Hotel,
Weathered Wall, Moe, the Fenix Underground, the Tractor Tavern etc. Willow was
also featured on Souls of the Sound (under Barefoot & Flowers), a sampler CD of 12 of Seattle’s finest female
singer/songwriters, featuring her song "Growing Grey" (1995).
It was the summer of 1995 that Willow hooked up with bass & violinist, Ken Stubblefield.
Stubblefield’s haunting violin solos and soft, round bass give an eerie
atmosphere to Willow’s strong voice and lyrics. After performing and recording
with some of Seattle’s finest musicians, Willow and Stubblefield were joined
by guitarist Kevin Wood in the late summer of 1999. Kevin’s guitar swims in
and out of Willow’s vocals with complex restraint and well-honed skill: adding
texture and depth – breath and diversity without stealing from the intimacy of
a song. Rhythmic contrast and colorful dynamics were added (Winter 2000) with percussionist/drummer Jeremy Sever’s smooth, subtle and tasty
accompaniment.
In late winter of 1998 Willow’s then band released a well received six song
EP. As a solo performer, Willow recently released a self-titled, debut solo
acoustic CD. The ten compositions, recorded live May 10th 1999 at the Acoustic
Chamber Studio, embody the intimacy and passion audiences experience with Willow’s
live performances. A full length CD with the current band was recently recorded at Studio Litho
with engineer/producer, Tucker Martine (Bill Frisell, Wayne Horwitz, Carrie Akre,
Aiko Shimada). With the release of Sweet Dark Demon, Willow has taken the band
on several tours through the Southwest, Oregon and California. Visit the News
page for links to photos from the road! Click here
for more information on Sweet Dark Demon! For a list of venues where Willow has appeared, click
here.
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