It’s been almost four months since my last blog post, back in May. My excuse for taking so long can be boiled down to one word: summer. And what a summer! I’ll tell you a bit more about it down below.

It seems only right to begin with the practical stuff, so here’s a sampling from my gig calendar—including a show in Seattle in November and a new weekly series here in Port Townsend!

1) Wednesday, September 25th @ The Quilcene Lantern • Solo (opening for The Faux Paws)

Doors at 6:00 pm • Show at 7:00 pm • 7360 Center Road, Quilcene, WA • All ages • $20 tickets

The Quilcene Lantern is not just my new favorite venue—it’s my new favorite place. Formerly the “Concerts in the Barn” property, it was purchased in January by a lovely family with big ambitions: the de Kochs, whom I happen to know from my school days in Seattle. They are still hosting the long-running summer chamber music series, in addition to other festivals and shows year-round, plus weddings, dances, farm-to-table dinners, and more. It’s a dreamy spot that is quickly becoming a community hub here in Jefferson County. Trust me: it is worth making the journey from far away to experience this place!

Having seen some truly phenomenal shows at the Lantern this year—including Damien Jurado just two nights ago!—I am happy to announce that later this month I'll be playing there myself. Better yet, I get to open for one of my favorite bands: The Faux Paws. The Faux Paws are indescribable, though "bluegrass plus saxophone" might be a good start. It’s my good friend and frequent collaborator Chris Miller who plays sax (and banjo) with this stellar band that tours all over the country. I was honored to be asked to open for them at this stop on their West Coast tour.

2) Three Saturdays @ Cellar Cat: September 28, October 12, & November 9 • Solo

7:00 to 10:00 pm • 11253 NE State Highway 104, Kingston, WA • 21+ • No cover

Hey Seattle-area folks! This one is within reach! It could be a perfect date night: park your car in Edmonds, walk onto the ferry, cruise across the Sound, then walk half a block into Kingston: you’ll find Cellar Cat on your left, there on the main drag. It's a cozy space with a grand piano, a great wine selection, displays by local artists, and puzzles you can work on while you sip and listen. I’ve been playing at Cellar Cat since early this year, and I love the intimacy of the space, the easy exchange it allows with the audience. Come down and request a song! Reservations recommended: (360) 979-7925

3) Jonas Myers Trio @ Egan’s • Thursday, November 14th

7:00 to 8:30 pm • 1707 NW Market Street, Seattle, WA • All ages • $20

I couldn’t let the year end without putting on another show in Seattle with drummer William Sage and bassist Ryan Donnelly. I love playing with these cats. Over our years of performing together we’ve found a deep sense of trust and playfulness. When we premiered my “Bicycle Suite” at the Royal Room back in April, the audience reaction was overwhelming. Fueled by this encouragement, I’ve been expanding the suite. We’re going to perform it again in November, with at least one new movement, alongside some other (mostly original) tunes. Egan’s is a lovely, intimate room—capacity is quite limited, and we expect this show to sell out, so call ahead to reserve a table! (206) 789-1621

4) Piano Bar Fridays @ The Bishop • Starting November 8 • Solo

5:00 to 7:00 pm • 718 Washington Street, Port Townsend, WA • All ages • No cover

Announcing a new weekly series at the Bishop Hotel & Bottle Shop here in Port Townsend! Starting in November, I’ll be playing, singing, and taking requests every Friday night at this cornerstone of the Port Townsend music scene. I’m thrilled to have a weekly engagement like this. It’s a great opportunity to connect with friends and fans on a regular basis, to exercise my performance chops, and to expand my repertoire. I invite you to get creative with your requests. Challenge me to do a familiar song in a new style, or mash up two very different songs, or improvise a brand new song on the spot! (Am I going to regret this invitation? We’ll see!) Let’s team up to make this night a fun fixture of the Bishop’s weekly calendar.

5) Holy Carp! @ The Uptown Pub • Saturday, November 23rd

8:00 to 11:00 pm • 1016 Lawrence Street, Port Townsend, WA • 21+ • No cover

What the hell is Holy Carp!? Glad you asked. Holy Carp! is a hell of a good time. It’s yours truly, singing lead and playing bass. It’s Connor Forsyth on keys, Sammy J Watson on drums, Willem de Koch on trombone and guitar, Chris Miller on sax and banjo. It’s covers you don’t hear very often and originals you’ve never heard. It’s bluesy jazzy poppy rocky folky country funky groovy stuff. (Describing genres has admittedly never been my strength.) It’s Tom Waits, Tom Petty, Lucinda Williams, John Prine, The Beatles. Get the picture? Our first show is at The Uptown Pub in November. The Uptown is the neighborhood living room. It’s cozy and friendly and unpretentious. The burgers are good. The beer is reasonably priced. The liquor is nonexistent. Come hang and help us pack the place for the debut of this new band!

Those are the shows I wanted to highlight, but there’s plenty more. You can always find a full list of my upcoming gigs on my events calendar.

A New Video

Back on July 31st I went down to Rainshadow Recording here in Port Townsend with a mission to make some solo performance videos. See, most of my online content is from a few years ago or more, and it’s been feeling outdated to me. I’m in a new musical era, and I wanted to refresh my online offerings to reflect that. To that end, I hired two friends to help me out: audio engineer Conor Sisk and videographer Tomoki Sage. They were wonderful to work with. Now the first video from that session is up on YouTube—with several more to come. I hope you enjoy it!

A bit about the piece of music featured in this video: I wrote it late last year, after a bike trip I took with my partner Naomi through the Skagit Valley region of Washington, not too far from our home in Port Townsend. It was a breathtaking experience, riding the long flat roads past the fields and marshes and bays, seeing the endless vees of geese coming one after another south down the flyway. Those rides through that beautiful landscape occasioned some deep and memorable conversations about our commitment to each other and the future we want to make together. The trip quickly took up a special place in my heart, and I knew I wanted to try to capture it in music. Some of you have heard this piece as part of my "Bicycle Suite," which I premiered with my trio at the Royal Room back in April. I am still working on that larger set of compositions about bicycle travel, hoping to expand it with more movements and parts for more instruments. Stay tuned.

Patreon

If you’re one of my Patreon supporters, you’ve had access to this new video already for the last week. If not, you can become a patron for as little as $3 a month and get early access to the rest of the videos, alongside other exclusive posts.

Honestly, if you’re like me, you probably don’t care much about getting early access to my videos. I’ll admit that it’s a somewhat gimmicky way to offer a perk to my patrons. The real reason I support people on Patreon is not because I want something specific in return, but because I like the work they make and want to help them continue to do it. I’m sure that goes for my patrons too. And that monthly support really does make a difference. It allows me to stay on a path that can feel very tenuous at times. Here’s what I told my patrons when I put out this recent video:

As a working musician, money can get a little tight sometimes, especially at the end of the month when rent is almost due. With the session coming up, I was starting to wonder if I'd have enough money in my bank account to pay the folks I'd hired. Then, I remembered—I hadn't deposited my Patreon money in a while. I checked my balance, and sure enough, it was just enough, having accumulated over several months, to cover the cost of the recording session.

Of course, financial support is just one kind of support. By being on this email list, by coming to my shows, by connecting me with people and opportunities, by offering encouraging words, you’re already supporting me and my work. It means the world. Thank you!

Summer

We’re all used to summer getting a little bit crazy, but I’ve never experienced a summer acceleration quite like this year’s. In Port Townsend, the summer season is apparently one long party. Not only does the town swell with seasonal residents and tourists, but there are events and festivals happening seemingly all the time, sometimes several at once. Of course it’s also my busiest season for gigs, not to mention all the visitors who roll through town. With all of that going on, it felt like there was hardly a moment to step back and take a breather—or write a blog post.

When I did have some time, I tried to get outside. My summer adventures kicked off with a solo backpacking trip up to Royal Lake in June, when the overnight weather was still quite cold. I spent two nights shivering in my sleeping bag despite my many layers, but it was well worth it to spend time in that majestic quiet. The next excursion was a three-day bike trip with Naomi to the San Juans. We rode up Whidbey Island, across Deception Pass, through Anacortes, on to Orcas for a night at Moran State Park, then finally to Shaw Island, where we camped at the county park and ate lentils on the beach as the sun went down. Most recently, I was stunned by a day hike up the Elwha River to the site of the old Glines Canyon dam. The ancient cedars and firs, the explosion of new growth where the reservoir was, the school of chinook swaying deep in a blue pool—it was all so uplifting.

The Elwha River, upstream of Glines Canyon

I’m feeling more grateful than ever for the wilderness all around us. Without question it is imperiled, yet it remains so vital. It stirs me like nothing else. In fact, I am coming to understand that all the music I write arises directly out of this region and its unfathomable splendor.

I’ve got one more opportunity to get out into the wilderness while it’s still (technically) summer: today, I’m heading to the Seven Lakes Basin for three nights of solo backpacking. I expect to be cold and damp for at least some of the trip. I hope to have a heart-to-heart with the Milky Way. I’ll probably see bears feasting on the last berries of summer, and I might catch a trout or two. Regardless, if past experience is any indication, I’ll return a slightly more grounded and humbled creature.

Robert Earl Knatt (1948 – 2024)

Lastly, I would be remiss not to mention my middle school jazz band teacher, Robert Earl Knatt, who died on August 25th at the age of 76. He was a legendary educator: you can read about him in the Seattle Times.

He was definitely old school—firmly committed to the tough love style of teaching. He could be downright intimidating. The last thing you wanted was to be singled out in his class. But it was always clear that his toughness came from a place of genuine belief. He saw the individual in each student, and the potential in each individual.

Without Bob Knatt’s tough love, I’d never have started playing bass. I auditioned for his band on piano when I was coming into 6th grade, but he told me plainly that I was not a skilled enough reader to get the gig. What’s more, none of the other music classes offered at the school included a piano part. If I wanted to be in a music class, why not take up a different instrument and join a beginner ensemble? He started listing options. When he mentioned upright bass, I said, "The really big one? Sounds fun." He must have written it down, because on day one at Washington Middle, I was in Beginning Orchestra on upright bass. Twenty-one years later, I still play upright.

By eighth grade, I had progressed enough on the bass to make the top jazz band. That year, we traveled around the northwest competing with other schools—and won every last competition. Mr. Knatt held his band to a standard of excellence, and excellence was the result.

He retired in 2008 after 36 years in public schools, though he remained involved with music education for many more years through Seattle JazzED.

I was honored to be asked to play piano at Mr. Knatt’s funeral last weekend in SeaTac. Though it was a somber occasion, it was also a celebration of a man who touched thousands of lives with his teaching. It was truly moving to hear from students who had been in Mr. Knatt’s very first class—folks who are now in their sixties and still playing music every day, thanks to him. And it was great to reconnect with old friends from middle and high school.

I wish I’d reached out to Mr. Knatt in recent years to tell him I was still playing and to thank him for his influence. If you have the chance, consider thanking the teachers who helped shape you into the person you are today.