Virtual Tunesmith Night

The Wallowa Valley Music Alliance continues their 16th season of Tunesmith Night - a showcase of original music, restricted to LIVESTREAM only due to the current wave of COVID-19 cases in Wallowa County. The unique appeal of presenting three songwriters, sharing their original work in an intimate a round-robin format is core to the program, and the musicians will be performing live, safely distanced, in the historic Enterprise Odd Fellows Hall. The show will be streamed live to WVMA’s YouTube channel and the Music Alliance website. (http://wvmusicalliance.org)
The February 12 show features songwriters Janis Carper, Carolyn Lochert, and Gregory Rawlins.

Janis Carper is an award-winning songwriter, singer, and guitarist who has a dozen recordings to her credit. Her soulful vocals, masterful guitar playing, and well-crafted songs have been heard at festivals, concert halls and radio programs nationwide. Her skills as accompanist, producer and teacher broaden the scope of her musical endeavors. Carper has an ability to craft lyrics and melodies that reach into the heart and mind. Her solid guitar playing supports songs that grip the listener—from the somber and reflective to the light and humorous, reflecting influences like Bonnie Raitt, Rosanne Cash, and Lucinda Williams. Carper lives in Enterprise, Oregon with her two dogs.

Heavily influenced by the likes of Etta James, Billie Holiday, Abbey Lincoln, Aretha Franklin, Carolyn Lochert’s career has taken her from singing lead in rock, country and funk bands to playing in the “horn” sections of jazz ensembles. Studying composition at OSU started her on the path to writing her own music. Her first album, She’s Lookin’ Back, features Lochert’s smooth, sultry sound and some of Portand’s and Wallowa County’s finest musicians.

Lochert and Carper have been performing as the duo Jezebel’s Mother for several years, with a swirl of sweet harmonies and solid grooves.

Gregory Rawlins grew up on the Key Peninsula of Western Washington--technically in south Port Orchard, but closer to smaller forest villages like Wauna and Burley; both of which hang on the cusp of Kitsap and Pierce county. So he actually has no idea where he's from, and it's not as if place names matter all that much to him anyhow. All of these locations are seamless when it comes to the fresh and salt waterways, and the bountiful flora: the blackberries, the salmonberries, thimbleberries, sword ferns, bracken ferns, and maidenhair; the moss, the nettles and the mushrooms. If you ask him, such elements have served as the long-lasting catalyst for his natural reverence, sense of adventure, and creative inspiration. "I am from a land of excessive beauty and wonder, and it's made my thirst for beauty and wonder excessive. Has this mentality got me into more than a few pickles? You betcha."
 
Since 2007, Rawlins has overseen the composition of 13 full-length albums, and 2 EPs, spanning genres of Rock, Americana, Folk, Psychedelic, Ambient, and Experimental. As one critic said, "He's tougher to pin down than a feral cat." This love for creative expression has crossed over into other artistic mediums as well- namely acting. Rawlins played the role of Duke Orsino in the 2018 La Grande Shakespeare production of "Twelfth Night," and was most recently cast as John Merrick in the "The Elephant Man" at Eastern Oregon University in 2019. He is currently enrolled as a student of the Masters of Fine Arts Creative Writing program at EOU.