100 Bands in 100 Days Presented by Verity Credit Union — Day 47: Cedar Teeth
Music fans of the Pacific Northwest, hello and welcome back to our third annual year-end daily countdown, 100 Bands in 100 Days, where every day until December 31st, we’re showcasing a new band or artist you have to know about, presented by Verity Credit Union. Follow the #100Bands100Days hashtag on Twitter to stay on top of all the bands featured and make sure to follow Verity on Twitter as well. Some days the featured act could be an established and locally-adored northwest-based musician that perhaps you haven’t been turned onto yet, and other times they could be a band with a small following that just hasn’t had their deserved time in the sun yet. Either way, we’re fairly confident you can come away from this daily segment with plenty of new favorites. Today’s musical offering is Cedar Teeth from the cascade foothills in Oregon.
The first thing pops out at you when you listen to Cedar Teeth is the storytelling aspect of their music. They use a bevvy of instruments and styles to craft stories that are put to song, and although they might cover a bit more ground than he does these days, I’m reminded of Steve Earle in this music, certainly vocally at the very least. They are quite diverse with a sound that at times is a borderline americana/bluegrass hybrid but they also prove they can thrown down swampy blues rock reminiscent of Anders Osborne.
The band hails from the Cascade foothills, where the sound of saws cut through the Oregon woods and the lights of Portland set the western horizon aglow. The music of Cedar Teeth is shaped by the experience of living in this margin dividing the wilderness from the city. Between the five members of the band emerges a fusion of guitars, banjo, and keys, propelled by bass and drums, while vocal harmonies weave through the music. Their songs are sweeping and immersive, at turns rustically melodic, lyrically raw, and aggressive, as they explore the tensions of our time: love, confusion, progress, and corruption in a morally ambivalent landscape.
For those old enough, upon first hearing Cedar Teeth, it is difficult not to hear Levon Helm, Rick Danko and company, The Band, hollering from the grave. Indeed, imagery reflecting organic flesh and bone, mingling with gnarled old-growth roots music, is what this band is all about.
Cedar Teeth has performed throughout the NW and beyond, including 2015 sets at Sundance Film Festival, Cascadia Rainingman, and Summer Meltdown. In 2016, they’ve performed at Whiskeytown Festival, as well as venues like Seattle’s Tractor Tavern, Bend’s Domino Room, and Portland’s Doug Fir, working with bands like Fruition, Hillstomp, Rabbit Wilde, and Lil’ Smokies. Crafting a sound that blends rough and rustic folk rock with lyrical American roots, the music of Cedar Teeth sounds familiar no matter the generation or frontier from which you hail.
With the terrific sounds that come out of these five fantastic musicians, the future is bright indeed!
(You can check out Cedar Teeth on Facebook and you can listen to them at Bandcamp and/or stream “Droppin’ Low” below)
Submissions for 100 Bands in 100 Days are still open to any Pacific Northwest band interested in submission. If you would like to have your band submitted for a chance to be featured in this segment, consult this link for more information on how you can do so.
