Event

Crow and The Canyon

A large part of who Crow and the Canyon are as a band comes from the diverse backgrounds of the members. Ben Larsen, principal songwriter, vocalist, and guitar-and-mandolinist, originally from Connecticut, came to Portlands Lewis and Clark College. There, he began studying jazz guitar, eventually shifting focus to classical mandolin, playing with several formidable acts after college, including Renegade Stringband, and Allie Kral (Yonder Mountain String Band). My last band, The Giraffe Dodgers, broke up just before everyone else moved to town in January, 2014, say Larsen. I started playing with Austin as a duo, then Miles, and then finally Leigh, when she joined us for our first show as Crow and the Canyon in June of that year. I feel like our story is a very Portland story, says vocalist Leigh Jones, a North Carolina native who studied at NYU before moving to Portland. None of us knew each other beforehand, but Austin, Miles, and I all independently moved here within a month of each other with the intention of finding people to play music with. It didnt take long to find each other. Originally from Savannah, GA, banjo player Austin Quattlebaum was raised on Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix records before delving into bluegrass while living in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Bassist Miles Berry is a Northern California- native whose blues-musician father introduced him to jazz and West African highlife music. Portland is a melting pot for creative people, says Quattlebaum.