Oregon Music News

Photo by Jim Davis

Hello, guitar! Hello, keys! Hello, horns! Miriam’s Well knows how to rock the instruments. What a great surprise, to see Miriam’s Well, already totally kickin’ on their own, beefed up by the Quadraphonnes in hot pants and matching hats, along with Portland’s trailblazing key slammer, Steve Kerin.

Singer and guitar stroker Mir German is Joplinesque, with a wiry frame and long, wavy, free-flowing hair that acts as a prop while she’s on stage. She lets it fly around and sometimes runs he fingers through it slowly and deliberately. Today she donned a crocheted top and no bra, grey cords with flowers embroidered onto the bottoms, and brown suede boots.

Mir’s partner, Mark Bowden is co-writer/producer/guitar player with an equally interesting outfit: a red and white baseball shirt, red and leopard print Nikes, and a fedora. Their guitars blend wonderfully, and you can see the love between them. Miriam’s Well is their vision – isn’t Portland glad they’re keeping alive in the Rose City.

Photo by Jim Davis

Miriam’s Well could easily have happened in the sixties. Apropos to that, Mir introduces one of her best numbers. “This is a song called Peace and Love. You don’t even need to be a hippie to dig it.” Right on, sister.

She crouches over her mic as she sings, as if she’s telling you a really loud secret. Eyes squinted with a sly smile, legs lifting one after another as she leans forward, then back, dipping and dancing along with her groovin’ tunes. Sometimes she looks Bowden next to her, mic string dangling suggestively between her legs, and you can tell she wants to jump his bones. Meow – good energy to tap while on stage.

It’s hard to qualify Miriam’s Well’s style. It’s funky, soul-infused acid blues rock, perhaps. Whatever you call it, it’s damn entertaining; full of energy and heart.

Photo by Jim Davix

As if there wasn’t enough talent on stage, Mir introduces Mr. Lee Garrett, the singer and songwriter who co-wrote many songs with Stevie Wonder, including “Signed, Sealed, Delivered.” Garrett noticed Mir’s talent after she moved to Portland in 2006, and started to rise in popularity, with increased local sets and airtime. Garrett actually sought her out to work together, so along with Mark, the three of them made the album Indians and Clowns.

Maybe it’s being music-geeky, but it felt like an important moment. Garrett, who is blind, wears dreads that hang almost to the floor. As he walks over to center stage from his seat off to the side, part of music’s history appears, and generations combine. Mir holding him steady, he sings so damn hard you think he’s going to fall off the stage. And almost as expected, he falls dramatically to the floor at the end of his tribute mash-up and kicks his legs in the air. The crowd screams in frantic joy. ‘Nuff said, that show was amazing.

OMN is proud to be a media sponsor of the 2011 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival and to help support the Oregon Food Bank.