Event

THE BARN BIRDS with Jonathan Byrd and Chris Kokesh

JONATHAN BYRD is "one of the top 50 songwriters of the last 50 years," says Rich Warren of WFMT in the Chicago Tribune. Scott Alarik of the Boston Globe says, "This rootsy North Carolinian may be the most buzzed-about new songwriter in folkdom.

CHRIS KOKESH is no newcomer to the folk music scene. In her 14 years with the all-woman quartet Misty River, she became a veteran of stages including the Strawberry Music Festival (CA), the Walnut Valley Festival (KS), Sisters Folk Festival (OR), and Wintergrass (WA) and helped create the signature vocal blend of this Northwest favorite.

Jonathan Byrd and Chris Kokesh met in 2007 at the Americana Song Academy, a week-long songwriting school in Sisters, Oregon. After teaching at the Academy, Jonathan went on to play the Sisters Folk Festival where he invited Chris to play with him. They played to two encores, and Jonathan was invited back to play again the next year, a rare honor bestowed by popular vote among the festival attendees. The duo, dubbed the Barn Birds, has since toured the Pacific Northwest and Midwest and recorded an as-yet unreleased album.