__NOTOC__ Black Prairie is a six-piece string band from

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. The band formed in early 2007. Their first album, ''

Feast of the Hunter's Moon ''Feast of the Hunters' Moon'' is the debut album by Portland, Oregon-based string band Black Prairie, released in 2010 on Sugar Hill Records. Track list # Across The Black Prairie # Red Rocking Chair # Back Alley # Ostinato Del Caminito # A Pra ...

'', was released on April 6, 2010, on the Sugar Hill label.

History

The band began when

The Decemberists The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of Colin Meloy ( lead vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion), Nate ...

Chris Funk Christopher Funk (born November 28, 1971) is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist best known as a member of the Portland, Oregon, indie rock band The Decemberists. He plays guitar, pedal steel, piano, violin, dobro, hurdy-gurdy, mandol ...

(

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

) and

Nate Query Nate Query (born September 5, 1973) is an American musician best known as the bassist of the Portland, Oregon indie rock band The Decemberists. He plays electric bass, upright bass, banjo and cello. He makes appearances on many albums by Portland ...

(bass) had some time off from touring and decided to put together a side project. Other members of the band include The Decemberists' accordion player

Jenny Conlee Jennifer Lynn Conlee-Drizos (born December 12, 1971) is an American musician, best known as the accordionist, pianist, organist, keyboardist, melodica player, and occasional backup singer and harmonicist for the indie rock quintet The Decemberists ...

and drummer

John Moen John Moen is a musician and member of The Decemberists, Black Prairie, Boston Spaceships, Eyelids, and Perhapst. Moen has played the drums since he was 15 years old. Prior to joining The Decemberists, Moen played with over 20 bands including s ...

, singer and violinist Annalisa Tornfelt of Bearfoot and The Woolwines, and guitarist Jon Neufeld of

Dolorean Dolorean is an American rock band based in Portland, Oregon. Their current line-up is Al James, guitar/vocals, Jay Clarke, organ/piano, Ben Nugent, drums/percussion/vocals, James Adair, bass, and Jon Neufeld, guitar. They have released four stu ...

and Jackstraw. The band performed at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

festival in March 2010, Oregon's Pickathon Festival in August 2010, and toured in October 2010.

Influences

Their musical influences include bluegrass,

klezmer Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

, and

Romanian music Romania is a European country with a multicultural music environment which includes active ethnic music scenes. Traditional Romanian folk music remains popular, and some folk musicians have come to national (and even international) fame. Histo ...

resulting in a unique sound. Chris Funk says Black Prairie's sound "bridges the music of

Clarence White Clarence White (born Clarence Joseph LeBlanc; June 7, 1944 – July 15, 1973) was an American bluegrass and country guitarist and singer. He is best known as a member of the bluegrass ensemble the Kentucky Colonels and the rock band the Byrds, ...

and

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...

Discography

Albums

Music videos

References

External links

Black Prairie official website
Americana music groups Musical groups from Portland, Oregon 2007 establishments in Oregon Musical groups established in 2007 {{US-country-band-stub