Event

Sing A Song of Portland!

Portland is a city known for great music from The Kingsmen to Y La Bamba with some pretty great bands in between (The Dandy Warhols, Dead Moon, Richmond Fontaine, The Decemberists to name a few) and we want to sing about it, literally out loud on the street!! So come join us for a walking tour with a twist as we learn about the musical history of the Rose City, the issues effecting it today and then join together to sing some of the songs that have helped shape Portland's music scene.

The tour will be based around Portland's central vein of Burnside looking at venues past and present, hearing the stories of where Courtney met Kurt, how an internet forum gave birth to Portland's largest free music festival, where a Motown drumming legend performs in Portland every week and how music in Portland has fought issues of social justice. This tour also explores the independent businesses that have been keeping Portland music locally made and sold from the labels to the record stores to everywhere in between.

Tour Guide Biography
Sam Murray is a PhD Student at Cardiff University in Wales, United Kingdom. He is currently writing his Doctoral Thesis on the Portland Music Scene exploring how the city sustains it and the various factors that pour into it from the musicians to the bookers to the fans. He has an MA in Popular Music Studies from the University of Liverpool and a BA in Popular and World Music from the University of Leeds. Sam has been a fan of Portland produced music since taking a chance on a Laura Veirs record after seeing an advert for 'Year of Meteors' in the back of the NME, he is excited to share his research in such a unique way.