Dustin Kensrue
Mississippi Studios
∙
Portland
Wednesday, May 15 at 7:30 pm PDT
Rock
Concert Venue
Wednesday, May 15 at 7:30 pm PDT
Rock
Concert Venue
Entry Options
Details
Artists
Description
Dustin Kensrue
The Desert Dreaming Tour
w/ The Brevet & Brother Bird
Dustin Kensrue was still a teenager when he formed Thrice, the dynamic and multifaceted rock band who have been bending and blending genres for the past quarter century. Before the group's touring schedule took him around the world, he spent his childhood in Southern California, regularly heading into the desert to visit his paternal grandparents in Palm Springs. While there, he would wander for hours through the rocky hills and sandy washes near their home, and the landscape, colors, and stories of that sun-baked wilderness left a lasting impression.
Decades later, Kensrue summons the spirit of the American southwest with his third original studio solo album, the evocative and eclectic Desert Dreaming. It's a transportive album that blurs the lines between genre and geography, balancing the influence of old-school country western icons like Marty Robbins and Gene Autry with the sharp songwriting of a modern musician who's spent 25 years on the road, onstage, and in the writing room. Kensrue approaches these songs like a western novelist, filling them with details of the desert—the sound of coyotes howling in the distance, the smell of sage and lilac in the dry wind, the lure of hidden treasure in the hills—and punctuating the recordings with pedal steel guitar, train beats, and the strongest melodies of his career.
It's been years since Kensrue made his earliest trips into the Sonoran Desert to visit his grandparents, gaining an appreciation for the southwestern landscape along the way. But this record itself reaches even further back, leaning heavily into the ethos and aesthetics of the country and western music of the 50’s and 60’s. And following another thread into the mid-century he opens Desert Dreaming with "Death Valley Honeymoon," a song about his mother’s parent’s own honeymoon in the Mojave Desert. It's a personal moment of an album that mixes biography, history, and fiction, and it's one of the many songs that make this Desert bloom. Everything that follows—the deep growl of Kensrue's baritone guitar, the spring reverb that drifts skyward like woodsmoke, the trail-riding twang of songs like "Leaving Tonight For Santa Fe"—shows just how expansive Kensrue's music can really be.
Please note, when selecting the Print at Home or Mobile Delivery method, you will not have access to view your tickets until 14 days prior to the performance.
ALL SALES ARE FINAL. PLEASE, DOUBLE CHECK YOUR ORDER BEFORE PURCHASING. NO REFUNDS.
MOSTLY STANDING / LIMITED BALCONY SEATING
THIS EVENT IS 21+
VALID US OR CANADA ID REQUIRED FOR ENTRY. GUESTS TRAVELING FROM OUTSIDE US/CA MUST PRESENT A VALID PASSPORT.