Our first performer was Mary Flower, a tremendous fingerstyle and slide guitarist from Portland Oregon who specializes in Piedmont style blues.

Flower’s immense finger-picking guitar and lap-slide prowess is soulful and meter-perfect, a deft blend of the inventive, the dexterous and the mesmerizing. Her supple honey-and-whiskey voice provides the perfect melodic accompaniment to each song’s story.\

An internationally known and award-winning picker, singer/songwriter and teacher, the Midwest native relocated from Denver to the vibrant Portland, Oregon, music scene in in 2004 and hasn’t looked back since. She continues to please crowds and critics at folk festivals and concert stages domestically and abroad, ones that include Merlefest, Kerrville, King Biscuit, Prairie Home Companion and the Calgary Folk Festival, among many.

 

A finalist in 2000 and 2002 at the National Fingerpicking Guitar Championship (Top 3 both years, and the only woman), a nominee in 2008 and 2012 for a Blues Foundation Blues Music Award, and a 2011 Portland Muddy Award winner, Flower embodies a luscious and lusty mix of rootsy, acoustic-blues guitar and vocal styles that span a number of idioms – from Piedmont to the Mississippi Delta, with stops in ragtime, swing, folk and hot jazz.

Flower’s 10 recordings, including her last four for Memphis’ famed Yellow Dog Records — Bywater Dance, Instrumental Breakdown, Bridges and Misery Loves Company — show a deep command of and love for folk and blues string music. For Flower, it’s never about re-creation. Her dedication to the art form is a vital contribution to America’s music.

Our local monthly magazine Powell River Living published a story on us joining up with Home Routes to present house concerts.