Tabor, Wayne and Muller headline Tunesmith Night

Published 1:37 pm Tuesday, April 7, 2015

The Wallowa Valley Music Alliance continues its monthly songwriter showcase, Tunesmith Night, on Saturday, April 11, at 7 p.m. with Gareth Tabor, Edmund Wayne, and Heidi Muller.

Gareth Tabor is well-known to Tunesmith Night audiences. His first experience with the Wallowa Valley music scene was as a member of the Back Alley String Band, a bluegrass band based in Portland. He began writing songs several years ago after having attended Summer Fishtrap’s songwriting workshop, and often returns to their Imnaha Writers’ Retreat for some focused writing time. Tabor states that as a song writer, he tries to “…craft songs which, based on specific locations and events, embody experiences and emotions that resonate with the listeners’ own…” along this “…joyful, sad, sweet, and at times, absurd, journey we call ‘life’.” In 2011, Tabor was invited to perform one of his recent songs, “Deep Creek,” based on events surrounding the massacre of Chinese miners along the Snake River in 1887, at the Chinese Remembering Conference in Lewiston. Subsequently the song was used as the sound track for a PBS special about the murders. When not writing songs, or performing with one of his two bands, Gareth continues his day job as an ophthalmic surgeon in Lake Oswego, where he resides with his wife, Janet.

With songwriter and lead singer Curt Krause at the helm, Edmund Wayne is making waves with their down-home, dirt-rock, pop-powered, exploratory sound. Edmund Wayne is in the process of recording a full-length album that will be released on Woolly Records.

Heidi Muller crafts songs about places and people with vivid imagery and detail. Influences from Appalachia to the Pacific Northwest weave through her lyrics, crystalline vocals, guitar and mountain dulcimer playing. She’s the writer of “Good Road,” the theme song for Northwest Public Radio’s Inland Folk show, local favorites “Anatone” and “In Wallowa,” and has released eight CDs.