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Martha Scanlan & Jon Neufeld

Anyone familiar with Martha Scanlan and Jon Neufelds unique alchemy on stage will not be surprised by the sense of being taken into the moment- their shows are in and of themselves a journey of improvisation; the way Jon Neufelds brilliant innovative guitar playing weaves effortlessly around Marthas timeless songwriting is simply magical.

They met playing together at Portlands Indie-Roots festival Pickathon in 2010, shortly before recording Tongue River Stories, a beautifully stark album of field recordings captured on film at the 120 year old family ranch where Martha was living and working in a remote corner of south east Montana (The Meadow on YouTube is a stunning introduction).

I wanted to record songs in the places where they were written; there is such a beautiful intimacy with the landscape in ranch work and in the place itself, stories inside of stories inside of stories

This exploration of place and belonging has been a long running theme, but really came into focus while being immersed in old time music in East Tennessee.

The interwoven relationship between music and landscape, people and stories really impacted me, just this profound sense of belonging. I started writing songs there, songs about my own landscapes back home in Montana. I missed them.