This morning, NPR published an article focused on 11 Oregon artists to watch in 2021, and we are thrilled that Eastern Oregon’s Margo Cilker was included. While we were planning on keeping this one under wraps for a bit, this seems like as good as time as any to announce that we will be working with Margo to release her debut album, this November.
Margo Cilker is a woman who drinks deeply of life, and her debut record Pohorylle, is brimming with it. For the last seven years, the Eastern Oregon songwriter has split her time between the road and various outposts across the world, from Enterprise, OR to the Basque Country of Spain, forging a path that is at once deeply rooted and ever-changing.
The record, which carries gentle nods to Lucinda Williams, Townes Van Zandt, and Gillian Welch, shines under the instincts of producer Sera Cahoone, whom Cilker first came across in 2019 while planning her first full-length. Cahoone quickly got to work assembling a first-rate band: Jenny Conlee (The Decemberists) on keys, Jason Kardong (Sera Cahoone, Son Volt) on pedal steel, Rebecca Young (Lindsey Fuller, Jesse Sykes) on bass, Mirabai Peart (Joanna Newsom) on strings, Kelly Pratt (Beirut) on horns, and the album’s engineer John Morgan Askew (Neko Case, Laura Gibson) on an array of other instruments. The record also prominently features effortless harmonies from Sarah Cilker, Margo Cilker’s sister and frequent touring partner.
Stay tuned for more news in July, when the first single will be premiered by The Bluegrass Situation.
“Sometimes when Bart sings, I forget what we’re talking about. I’m sure he knows though. I trust him. He sounds like John Prine, plays like Hoyt Axton, and looks like well… Bart Budwig. He’s a cosmic country lawn gnome.”