Screen Door Porch Blog

Roots Music Report’s Top 100 Folk Albums of 2011 listed our debut album, Screen Door Porch, as #93! Honored we are, especially considering the album was release in 2010. A monstrous THANK YOU to all of the deejays out there spinning independent music, and to the fans that consider to support what we are dong. We are forever in debt to you.

Keep your eyes peeled for sneak peaks of our new album, The Fate & The Fruit, due out in early May! We will be launching a Kickstarter campaign in the coming weeks.
Cheers,
Aaron & Seadar

The Skinny: New Year’s Eve Lobby Party at Snow King Resort with Screen Door Porch – 9:30 p.m. – ONLY $5 at the door! ALL AGES!

Its about time we play on New Year’s Eve, right? Its more-or-less a musical holiday in my book. The lobby at Snow King is not the most obvious place to throw a party, and that’s what makes it super cool. The 3-story atrium rise above the ground floor (& the stage) makes for a multi-level party that has exponentially grown since its inception in 2008 (played by Boondocks). If its anything like the past, we’ll be psyched to play for 500!

Acoustic Set + Electric Set = We will start on the mellow side, Duo Style, adding Tom (bass) to the mix during the Acoustic Set. The NYE electric set will feature the full band, and we’ve been working up some special material for what will be a marathon rock ‘n’ roll trip.

Snow King Hotel (307-733-5200) is offering special room rates, too, so be sure to give them a call if you are interested.

We hope you see you there. Its gonna be special!! Read the rest of this entry »

After 5 weeks away recording and getting some much needed sunshine we returned to Jackson with a great “Welcome Back” article from our friends at Jackson Hole Weekly. The article, which appeared in the November 23 issue of the paper, highlights the evolution of SDP and our current projects (new album!). Read on for the full article…

From the pen to the pick

By Evan Huggins
Jackson Hole, Wyoming – When they are not on tour or recording down in Austin, TX, Screen Door Porch unleashes blues influenced alt-country somewhere in Jackson Hole nearly every week. Core members Seadar Rose and Aaron Davis (music columnist for JH Weekly) recently got hitched and ran off to Honduras for a quick honeymoon punctuated on both ends by recording sessions for their second studio album.

Rose and Davis spin layered, energetic vocal harmonies that often draw comparison to Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. As a duo or a quintet (with bass and drums) and playing in electric and acoustic environments, Screen Door Porch posses a magnificent range. “Wrong the Right,” the first track on their self titled freshman LP opens with reverb-filled Southern guitar a la Black Keys channeling Junior Kimbrough with a seamless transition into the Americana realm via Seadar’s smooth country vocals. Screen Door Porch is one the few local bands that plays almost entirely original music.

Aaron Davis normally writes this column and can’t justly compose an opinion piece on his own band, but as is so often the case, this professional critic deserves a moment in the spotlight. Raised in Kentucky, Davis is deeply influenced by early century delta blues artists like Muddy Waters, as well as the classic folk-rock of Dylan and The Band. Davis arrived in Jackson in 2001 and has become deeply entrenched in the local music community over the last 10 years. In 2008, Davis released his first full-length solo album Rear View Mirror, named “one of the best albums of the year,” by Rootstime Magazine. Soon after, he began collaborating with Rose and Screen Door Porch was born.

While recording their first album, Rose and Davis built a strong relationship with Austin- based sound engineer Britton Beisenherz who is co-producing their new album at Ramble Creek Studio. “We recorded our first album down here and had such a great experience,” Davis said. “We thought the collaboration with Britton was something we wanted to take advantage of again.” The new album includes session artists from Austin on keys, organ and other instruments previously untapped by Screen Door Porch. This promises to create a more layered, groovy sound that tends towards rock and funk while remaining fundamentally alt country.

Screen Door Porch is planning to release the album in May or early June and is currently planning a CD release party of epic magnitude to take place in Jackson once the snow melts. They were hesitant to reveal too many details, but it promises to be a gleeful soiree. In preparation for the upcoming release, Screen Door Porch will be running a Kickstarter campaign to help fund their recording efforts. Fans who donate to the project will receive limited edition early release CDs, custom posters and other goodies. The campaign kicks off in mid January. More info will be available at screendoorporch.com.

To say the last few months have passed by in a whirlwind would be an understatement. We are still wrapping our heads around the fact that summer is clearly over here in Wyoming and winter is knocking. The summer was mighty good to Screen Door Porch and we have a heap of stuff to share.

The Summer Festival Season
Screen Door Porch played its first string of festivals this past summer in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming and they were incredible! We hit the road as a quartet (Andy Peterson on drums, Tom Davidson on bass), and our sets really evolved with each mini-tour. The range of festival atmospheres inspired this, and we are taking much of that energy with us to into the studio this month. A big thanks to Lauren Brzozowski for being our Merch manager!

We found that being a part of these festivals was rewarding in many ways. We met so many new music lovers, saw and fell in love with new bands from across the nation, and shared road stories (and bourbon) with other musicians. Overall, it was a genuine display of how eclectic concert bills can bring an equally diverse group of listeners to our music. Click here to see photos from summer tour.

New Merch (just in time for the Holidays)
We stocked up on a bunch of new SDP Merch for Holiday Season including: tees in Charcoal (guys) and Green (gals), SDP Koozies, stickers, CDs, and Baby Onesies. Yes, onesies! Visit the SDP Store to get your hands on these new items now.

Our dear friend, you will be missed…
Tremendous upright/electric bassist, singer and an overall genuine character, our great friend Bryan Perkes passed away last week from complications of a stroke. He played with Aaron in Boondocks and then Aaron Davis & The Docks for over six years. He was also Screen Door Porch’s first bassist. A rancher, Bryan was one of the hardest-working, positive people you’d ever meet. The way he talked about music exposed his capacity to hear music’s simplistic beauty while also loving the intricacies. We will forever remember Bryan for his infectious stage presence: eyes closed and a big smile.

Around the Bend
In just a few days we will hit the road for a different kind of tour…directly to our favorite studio in Austin, Texas—Ramble Creek Studio. It’s time to record album #2! With over a dozen new tunes in hand, we can’t wait to get these to tape and release them to the world (shooting for an early summer release). More details to come!

The Duo is on break from our Sunday residency at Q Roadhouse, but will return Thanksgiving Weekend, 6 to 9 p.m. As always—it’s free and musical guests are frequent. The Quartet will return to Winter Wednesdays at the Mangy Moose for a rowdy apres-ski crowd.

New Year’s Eve Show announced in Jackson Hole!
Acoustic + Electric set, 9:00 pm, Snow King Resort Lobby, only $5 (at door).

Theater shows, festivals, a Winter Tour, and a Spring Tour are in the works for 2012, so stay tuned for dates at some old familiar haunts and some totally new routes. Other things in the works include an in-studio video short, a live concert archive, special album pre-order packages and much more.

We wish everyone a very colorful Fall!
- Seadar & Aaron

Hey Folks! As we gear up to hit the road for a few festivals in the coming weeks, we ask that you help us spread the word by letting your friends know where we will be playing — Sawtooth Music Fest (Stanley, ID), Magic City Blues Festival (Billings, MT) and No Woodstock (Tensleep, WY). We’re traveling as a quartet, and if these upcoming sets feel as great as our Music on Main set did a few weeks back, we’re all in for a great ride!

If you don’t already know about the great lineup this year for Concert on the Commons in Teton Village (JHMR.com) on Sundays, you should–The Mother Hips, Wanda Jackson, Breakestra and others. The Duo will host an After-Party each Sunday, 7-10 pm, at Q Roadhouse so come out and say hello.

We’ve had an amazing summer so far … full of work, music and play in the mountains. Keep in touch!

We recently tallied our tour mileage for the taxman— 20, 747 miles last year. We really need to convert to veggie oil!  No spring tour has meant a welcomed break from the stage and more time to write, recharge, cook good meals, read and exercise. We’ve got a batch of new tunes that we’re building on for summer, and for the next record. More on that soon!

After several months of processing, Pandora Internet radio has accepted our album. We’ve been fans of this free service for many years and have discovered some of our favorite artists through its recommendations. This means you can go to Pandora.com and create a Screen Door Porch station, and it will play our music as well as other artists that align with our genre.

Now one year into the world, our debut album Screen Door Porch has climbed in the Roots Music Report Folk Radio Chart from #48 in February, #38 for March and reached #16 last month. It’s really new for us to be charting anything, so that’s been fun to watch. We owe a lot to the DJs around the country (and online) that are not scared to spin independently released albums. Power to the (indie) people! Wyoming-based KHOL and WPR have been a major part of that.

Summer shows starting this week
We have a really cool show to announce—our first of the summer season. The duo will join The King St. Ramblers for an intimate show at Factory Studios here in Jackson. We’ll be debuting a lot of newly written material and joining the Ramblers for a jam at the end.

Friday May 20 – 7 pm
Factory Studios (Gregory Lane)
with The King St. Ramblers
$10 at door . All Ages

Festival Season!!
We are happy to announce that Screen Door Porch will be featured at some amazing mountain Music Festivals this summer … thinking of a road trip??

Sawtooth Music Festival (Stanley, ID), Nowoodstock Festival (Tensleep, WY), Music on Main (Victor, ID), Soundcheck Music Fest (Pinedale, WY), Labor-less Music Fest (Cody, WY), and Art Fair Jackson Hole are all on deck beginning in June.

We’ll be taking the quartet on the road for most of it—Andy Peterson will man the drum kit and Tom Davidson joins us on electric bass. Looking forward to playing alongside some great artists… Langhorne Slim, Jalan Crossland, Sera Cahoone, Honey Island Swamp Band, The Ragbirds, Leo Rondeau, Shotgun Party and many others.

For tickets and more information, check out the tour dates.

Can’t wait to see you at the shows!

Much love,
Aaron & Seadar

I have a pile of non-music work laying by me and hot tea on the other side (unfortunately not tainted with whiskey), and I have managed to put off the real work for a few hours now. First it was terrible tv, then it was scouring the internet for well, I’m not even sure. Then I finally cracked down, turned on Pandora and took another long pause. Music is always a great help to me to get in the mode of work (even if it’s not the good music work kind), but it sometimes makes me stop everything I’m doing and listen, because there is nothing else I can do. I’m helpless.

Tonight’s song was by The Avett Brothers – ‘Living of Love.’ As soon as I heard the first lines I realized how long it’s been since I have listened to that album, that song and how much I love both. I immediately wanted to get the guitar out and go into music mode, but I had to let the music seep into me a bit more. So I’m seeping into ‘Living of Love’ at this very moment, zoning out, remembering the necessity of music in my bones, and feeling grateful for a good song.

Do you have those songs that make you pause, as though everything stops for those 3 minutes? Yeah, I have quite a few as well.

- Seadar

We announced way back when (4 months to be exact, but who’s counting?) that Screen Door Porch had been accepted into Pandora Internet Radio’s Music Genome Project. Well, just last week our album finally went LIVE on Pandora. And you can hear it now! Head on over to http://www.pandora.com/music/artist/screen+door+porch to create your very own Screen Door Porch station. You’ll also get to listen to some other great artists that Pandora has matched us up with.

We are in the middle of booking for some exciting summer shows, but we can’t say just which shows those are yet. But we have a hint: Mountain Festival. Can you take a guess?? We hope to announce these shows very, very soon, so stay tuned to our shows section.

Off season is quickly approaching, but we are nowhere near slowing down. A and I are hoping to get a ton of new tunes down on paper in the next month and have them ready for the summer. I’m off to the drawing board…

- Seadar

This past week we played a slew of great shows. New venues, new fans and familiar faces all united. And the band played so well – like living in your own dream! It was very nourishing for my soul, because the prior weeks had been a little trying. But that is the world of music sometimes. Actually, I am pretty sure that is life, too. The music biz just seems to knock you more often!

It’s funny because when the hard knocks come in the music world it always makes me question (for a quick second) if we are doing the right thing. But all it takes is one show, one person or one song to let me know to “just keep keeping on.” So that last week of shows really saved me. I want to thank everyone that came out, talked to us, walked away a fan. That is why we play music. To entertain and to love our jobs. I think I’ll keep mine now!

- Seadar

As we round the 325-inch mark for snow here in the Tetons, we have a lot to share in this fairly New Year. Our 7-week tour across the Midwest to the South and back was humbling, inspiring, exhausting, and exhilarating. Over the course of 7,500 miles, we built up a great deal of gratitude for friends that welcomed us into their homes. We had some nice surprises too, including packed rooms at our first shows in Chicago and Fort Wayne, and sharing bills with some killer bands (Malcolm Holcombe, Lee Miles, Jon Keller, Adelle Cotton).  It was also the first endurance test for our van, which rocked it through snow, ice, rain, 60 mpg gusts, and below 0 temps on our 34-hour stint from NC to WY. Whew…that was fun!

Excited & Honored
Our 2010 release, Screen Door Porch, was recognized in the following end-of-year lists:

• Wyoming Public Radio’s Best of Wyoming (wyomingpublicradio.net/morningmusic.html)
• #14 on Tupelo Honey’s Top 20 Americana Releases of 2010 (krvmtupelohoney.blogspot.com)
• #77 on Twangville’s Top 100 Releases (Twangville.com)

We’ve always said that we would be doing this regardless of how small or large the audience, but it’s really encouraging to know there are more than a handful of people out there enjoying it with us.

9-show Sled Dog Tour through Wyoming/Utah
This will be Aaron’s 7^th consecutive year to take a band into each of the 9 towns along The International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race (IPSSSDR). Screen Door Porch will travel as a quartet this time out; we are looking forward to having drummer Andy Peterson and bassists Tom Davidson and Matt Donovan adding to the groove.

IPSSSDR (nicknamed “IP-sid-der” around these parts) is the largest sled dog race in the lower 48 states and a daily showcase of Wyoming’s vast open space. Special for this year, Race Director Frank Teasley asked Aaron to write a song depicting the camaraderie and vibe of the race. The result is a swingin’ country-blues tune, “Sled Dogs,” which borrows its verse melody from a 1930’s-era Delmore Brothers song. SDP will debut it outside on Jackson’s Town Square on a stage across from the starting line where 25 mushing teams begin the 300-mile race.  Fireworks, Dutch oven BBQ, a film on the big screen, and just an overall awesome time in Jackson—we wish you could all join us.

This year’s strong field has created a Super Bowl of Mushing. Four-time Iditarod winner Lance Mackey and Blayne “Bud” Streeper—winner of the IPSSSDR in 2004 and 2010—will be two of the teams competing for the IPSSSDR title. To read more about his year’s race check out WyomingStageStop.org. Here’s the route…

Jan 28, 5pm – Town Square, Jackson, WY
Jan 29, 5:30pm – Lander Bar, Lander, WY
Jan 30, 6pm – Sublette County Library, Pinedale, WY
Jan 31, 6pm – Senior Center, Big Piney, WY
Feb 1, 6pm – Alpine Firehall, Alpine, WY
Feb 2, 6pm – Fossil Country Inn, Kemmerer, WY
Feb 3, 6pm – Uinta County Complex, Evanston, WY
Feb 4, 6pm – Mountain View Town Hall, Mountain View, WY
Feb 5, 6pm – The Yarrow, Park City, Utah

Our winter residencies in Jackson Hole—Wednesdays at the Mangy Moose and Sundays at Q Roadhouse—will resume when we return. These shows have been a blast and we have really enjoyed seeing familiar (and new) faces each week.

We must also mention the wealth of Jackson talent that represented at last weekend’s Jackson Hole Showcase at the Center for the Arts…a sweet mixture of improv and standup comedy, theater, dancing, and music that really exposed the fabric of this town. You can watch our 3-song set in its entirety on the Screen Door Porch YouTube Channel. Songs include Dylan’s “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry,” and originals “Jivin’” and “Cold Mountain Breath.”

“Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel.” ~Hunter S. Thompson

Much love,
Aaron & Seadar