#jeffrey silverstein

[golden-west]

Flyer for Jeffrey Silverstein

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Jeffrey Silverstein

Jeffrey Silverstein is a songwriter living in Portland, Oregon. He has been making music for over a decade. Prior to relocating to Portland, Silverstein released music with Brooklyn-based duo Nassau and Baltimore’s Secret Mountains. You Become the Mountain is his second solo album, inspired by the Pacific Northwest, meditation, long-distance running and Silverstein’s work as a special education teacher. Reviewing it for Dusted, Jennifer Kelly observed that “You Become the Mountain explores the conjunction of the natural world and whatever’s beyond it, in slow blossoming instrumentals that carry you out of the moment into a calm meditative space.”

Staple Singers – Freedom Highway

I’d initially caught wind of the Staple Singers via The Last Waltz and praise from Dylan and Levon Helm, but diving into their catalogue of soul, folk, gospel and R&B has been one of the most rewarding listening and record-collecting experiences. I started with a re-press of their 1959 debut Uncloudy Day and have spent so many slow weekend mornings listening to Pops’ signature tremolo guitar and the pure vocal arrangements of Mavis, Pervis, and Cleotha. A defining album of the Civil Rights Movement, Freedom Highway is one of the most powerful live recordings and performances I’ve ever heard. Recorded at Chicago’s New Nazareth Church in 1965, hearing the congregation react to this music is soul-stirring.

George Harrison – All Things Must Pass

I could yammer for days about how big of an impact this record plus George’s playing have had on me. The packaging for the 3-LP set is gorgeous. It’s a record that grounds you and sets you back on the path. Hard to argue with contributions from Billy Preston and Eric Clapton. More recently I’ve come to appreciate the pedal-steel work from Pete Drake. Been listening to a lot of Pete Drake, Red Rhodes and Buddy Emmons recently. “Wah-Wah,” which might have the greatest riff of all time, being written on the day he left the Beatles, is also one of my favorite pieces of George trivia. Really nice demo version of “All Things Must Pass” here.

Jerry Garcia – Garcia

My interest in the Dead has grown quickly over the past 4-5 years. I think the best way to get into ’em is to find our own way in. Jerry’s first solo release Garcia from 1972 served as a really nice entry point for me. I just cannot get enough of “Bird Song” and these versions of “Deal” and “Sugaree.” This album also sent me down a path of listening to more of the Jerry Garcia Band and his work with Merl Saunders. Definitely a record that keeps on giving.

Vetiver – Tight Knit

It’s no secret I’m a big fan of all things Andy Cabic/Vetiver. This record holds up over a decade later. No skips, phenomenal songwriting and band. “Rolling Sea” is one of the best album openers and “Another Reason To Go” is the deepest groove. Watching them live around the time this record came out made me realize how important having the right players behind you can be. If I had to narrow down my record collection to only three, I’m 100% this record would make the cut.

Akron/Family – self-titled

Discovering the music of Akron/Family rewired my brain. I miss seeing them live more than anything but am glad to have their albums to soften the blow. This record captures so much of what I appreciate about music and I have the same “holy shit” moment every time I return to it a few times a year. It’s the record I point to over and over when people ask me what my influences are. Listen to this album immediately, please.

Ted Lucas – self-titled

This is a record I want everyone to hear at least once in their lifetime. It stopped me dead in my tracks the first time I heard it. Grateful to the folks over at Yoga Records for making it more widely available. You MUST also hear the Blind Boys of Alabama doing “I’ll Find A Way (to carry it all).”

Hailu Mergia – Wede Harer Guzo

This is my go-to Sunday morning album. Originally released in 1978, I still have never heard music that comes close to sounding like this. Spellbinding and tremendously grounding.

Norma Tanega – “Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog”

Steve Gunn turned me on to this record. Norma Tanega was an American folk and pop singer-songwriter, painter, and experimental musician. An unmarried queer woman born of immigrants, Tanega’s hit single “Walking a Cat Named Dog” landed her on the billboard top 100 chart and a slot on American Bandstand. Tanega’s music would go on to be covered by the likes of Art Blakey, Barry McGuire and contemporary artists including Yo La Tengo and Thee Oh Sees. After releasing her second and final solo LP, Tanega moved back to California where she worked as a public school teacher and focused on painting and making experimental music using earthenware instruments. Stunning arrangements, guitar playing, and lyrics.

Peals – Walking Field

Beautiful record from William Cashion (Future Islands) + Bruce Willen (Double Dagger) This record pushed me towards more instrumental/ambient music. I love records that can establish mood quickly and this one does just that.

Bobby Charles – self-titled

Tracked at Bearsville Studios and co-produced by Rick Danko, this album is a collection of laid-back Americana with enough of Charles’ Cajun influence to keep things interesting. Sometimes referenced as a “lost” record of The Band, Garth, Levon, and Richard all made contributions. Sung in his signature drawl, Charles has an uncanny way of making the simplest joys in life the most interesting on songs like “Let Yourself Go,” “Grow Too Old,” and “Tennessee Blues.” A reissue is now available via Light in the Attic.

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Jeffrey Silverstein - KEXP, Seattle, Washington, March 18, 2024

Colorado didn't get Rich Ruth opening that Mikaela Davis show mentioned yesterday, but we got something equally awesome — Jeffrey Silverstein and his ace band supplying some tasty jams to perfectly set the mood. Silverstein's stuff can be slotted comfortably next to his fellow Portlandians Rose City Band thanks to its Dead-infused cosmic country choogle. But he has his own thing going, too, a JJ Cale-ish vibe that blends the purely laid-back with a hint of danger. Sweet stuff, to say the least — the recent Roseway EP is a good place to start, as is this very nice KEXP performance from last spring. Pedal steel dude Rick Pedrosa sounds especially nice; he's got a great tape from last year under the Far Sound moniker, which I encourage you to check out ...

[cbcruk]

Jeffrey Silverstein - Cowboy Grass

[playongivemeexcessofit]

Trip Sitter 🏯

Portland musician Jeffrey Silverstein’s recently released EP, Torii Gates, is a journey into the cosmic soundscape of spiritual other worlds. The album is named after a feature of traditional Shinto Temples, in which elaborately carved gates mark the boundary between this world and another. Silverstein explains that the EP is: “largely a celebration of the unknown, small joys and learning to be comfortable with transition. A torii (Japanese 鳥居, “where the bird is”) marks the entrance to a sacred space. The gate represents the border between secular and sacred worlds of the Shinto religion and serves as a metaphorical passage from the mundane to the spirit world.” 

The six tracks on the EP feature acoustic guitar, pedal steel and bass that float like wandering spirits. On the psychedelic instrumental “Trip Sitter”, a track that should be on all your 4/20 playlists, Silverstein explores the theme of “holding space.” 

The goal is to 'hold space' - being physically, mentally and emotionally present without interfering or inserting yourself into someone's experience.

While making this song I thought often of close friends who have and continue to hold space for me, psychedelics aside. Folks whom I can sit in silence with comfortably for long stretches of time. I wondered if I'd done enough to return the favor. Here’s to holding more space for others in 2021.

[dustedmagazine]

Jeffrey Silverstein — Torii Gates (Arrowhawk)

Torii Gates by Jeffrey Silverstein

Cosmic landscapes of acoustic guitar, pedal steel and bass float like disembodied spirits in this third full-length from Portland’s Jeffrey Silverstein. As on 2000’s You Become the Mountain, which was “braced in Western swagger, but enveloped in the shimmer of the otherworldly,” Silverstein is supported by Barry Walker Jr. on pedal steel and Alex Chapman on bass.

The disc is named after a feature of traditional Shinto Temples, in which elaborately carved gates mark the boundary between this world and another. Silverstein likewise uses music as an entry into the spirit world, layering shifting, hanging, sustained tones over one another to create eerie resonances. Walker’s pedal steel is an ever-present, wavering through-line, hovering over beds and thickets of acoustic strumming. But even Silverstein’s voice, a deep bass, hints at other-ness, dropping epigrammic verses into a well of reverberation and quiet.

As in the previous outing, Silverstein incorporates new age spoken word into his haunted ambiences, this time quoting a lengthy discussion of astral projection into “Caught Behind the Hours.” Yet even without pointers like the album title, the voice recordings, the lyrics, you’d get a sense of mystery in the silver glow of guitar tones that sound very much like Chuck Johnson or Pan*American. I found the music even more compelling this time out. It is somehow both more cohesive and more ephemeral, a real-er evocation of an unreal world. The song, “River Running By” follows a steady, natural course into eerie places, its rhythm paced by recorded drums and circling guitar licks and, as the lyrics explain, “living life in four-four time.” Yet the piece feels unbounded and free-flowing, a sparkling surface with shifting depths.

“Soft Lens,” similarly, hews to regular drum machine rhythms as it spirals off into the unknown. “Stuck outside the Torii Gates/Tired of hearing you have to wait,” ruminates Silverstein, as the song rises in waves around him. But he’s already at least half a step inside. While he was waiting, the boundary moved to envelope him.

Jennifer Kelly

[tuuneoftheday]

Jeffrey Silverstein - River Running By

[ellieinwinter]