I spent this weekend down in Portland, OR visiting a friend, and had the pleasure of attending a truly wonderful concert with two bands from Portland's "chamber folk" scene, if it's fair to call it that: Nick Jaina and Loch Lomond.

I was just blown away by these bands! Being a sucker for acoustic instrumentation, I was really happy to see bass clarinet, accordion, assorted percussion, electric, acoustic guitar, lap steel, and more, including my personal favorites, mandolin and fiddle. Both of these groups really emphasized high quality songwriting, and a very accessible, 'sing along' feel. Suffice it to say that I'm suitably impressed with the Portland scene - I wish I could point to Seattle bands which had this quality of musicianship (as well as venues as cool as Portland's Mississippi Studios!

The show also served as an introduction for Loch Lomond's new cd, Paper The Walls. In the "small world" department, the group features LearningMusician member Douglas Jenkins.