Indie Folk: Sounds from the Northwest Concert

About the event

Join the museum for a free outdoor concert featuring Portland musician Brian Mumford (Dragging an Ox Through Water), from our Indie Folk playlist. The concert also showcases Whiting Tennis, a Seattle-based artist and musician, and one of the 17 artists in the Indie Folk: New Art & Sounds from the Pacific Northwest exhibition. Pullman’s own Raza NorthWest, featuring WSU faculty Darryl Singleton and Alan Malfavon, will open the concert by playing son jarocho, a style of folk music indigenous to the Veracruz region of Mexico, reinforcing the Mexican-American influences heard on our playlist.

Live performances at the museum this month are an offshoot of the exhibition Indie Folk: New Art and Sounds from the Pacific Northwest, which features a playlist by Eric Isaacson of Mississippi Records. According to Isaacson, “the music genre Northwest Indie Folk could mean a lot of different things to different people. Our region is home to many cultures that have adapted their traditional folk music to the modern world: The term “Indie Folk” would apply to them all.”

Concerts are produced in collaboration with the WSU Student Entertainment Board.

About the Musicians

Dragging an Ox Through Water | Brian Mumford of Dragging an Ox Through Water uses homemade light sensitive electronics that respond to a candle’s random flicker to determine a lot of the sounds in his songs. He’s played in art punk band Sun Foot with local artists Chris Johanson and Ron Burns as well as other DIY bands such as Jackie O Motherfucker and the Deep-Fried Boogie Band.

Whiting Tennis | Whiting Tennis writes, records and performs indie folk and rock songs that strive to illuminate the universal through personal stories and poetry. While his relatively late start was inspired by the likes of Neil Young and Lou Reed, his current influences are more along the lines of Chan Marshall, M Ward, and Steve Malkmus. For Whiting, low-Fi is not a statement or a style, it’s simply the result of the economy and the preference for home recording.

Raza NorthWest | This duo came together originally to play son jarocho, a style of folk music indigenous to the Veracruz region of Mexico. Some elements, including its principal instrument, the guitar-like jarana has Spanish roots. Other aspects trace back through Cuba to Africa, such as the marimbol, a traditional bass instrument in the genre. Raza NorthWest performances take audiences on a journey featuring son jarocho, samba pop and reggae; all are music with indigenous and folk roots that speak to common human experience. Darryl Singleton and Alan Malfavon are both new to the Palouse and WSU’s faculty.
Instagram: @razanorthwest