The music of Oregon reflects the diverse array of styles present in the music of the United States, from Native American music to the contemporary genres of rock and roll, country, rhythm and blues, jazz, pop, electronic music, and hip hop. However, throughout most of its history, the state has been relatively isolated from the cultural forces shaping American music. Much of modern popular music traces its roots to the emergence in the late 19th century of African American blues and the growth of gospel music in the 1920s. African American musicians borrowed elements of European and Indigenous musics to create new American forms. As Oregon's population was more homogeneous and more white than the United States as a whole, the state did not play a significant role in this history.
The Dharma Bums were a U.S. garage band, consisting of Jim Talstra, John Moen, Jeremy Wilson, and Eric Lovre. They named themselves after the Jack Kerouac book The Dharma Bums.
The Northwest District is a densely populated retail and residential neighborhood in the northwest section of Portland, Oregon. Craftsman-style and Old Portland-style houses are packed tightly together with grand old apartment buildings and sleek new condominiums, within walking distance of restaurants, bars, and shops. The Portland Streetcar's first line terminates there, connecting the district to the Pearl District, Downtown Portland and points south to the South Waterfront, and several TriMet bus lines also serve the district.
Allalom Music was an American independent record label founded in 2001. It mainly released indie pop and alternative music. Founded in Redmond, Oregon, it had its headquarters in South Texas before moving back to Portland, Oregon in the fall of 2005. On January 15, 2010 the label announced their closure.
Crazy 8s is an American rock and ska band from Oregon.
Loch Lomond is an American indie folk band based in Portland, Oregon, founded as a solo recording project of Ritchie Young in 2003.
Ballet Fantastique is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, chamber ballet company based in Eugene, Oregon, and co-directed by mother-daughter team Donna and Hannah Bontrager. Ballet Fantastique was founded in October 2000 and currently has three components: A professional chamber ballet company, a pre-professional academy in the Russian Vaganova method of training, and a busy outreach wing. Ballet Fantastique became a resident company at Eugene's Hult Center for the Performing Arts in June 2014.
Musée Mécanique is an American band based in Portland, Oregon, fronted by singer-songwriters Micah Rabwin and Sean Ogilvie. The band's debut LP Hold This Ghost was released September 30, 2008 on Frog Stand Records of Brooklyn, New York and in 2010 on Souterrain Transmissions of Berlin, Germany. The 2014 album From the Shores of Sleep was released by the Portland indie label Tender Loving Empire and in Europe by Glitterhouse Records.
Typhoon is an American indie rock band based in Portland, Oregon. Noted for its many members, the band was founded in Salem, Oregon in 2005. Typhoon have released five albums, two EPs, and have contributed to a number of compilations. The band's most recent album Sympathetic Magic was released on January 22nd, 2021.
The Family Crest is an American orchestral indie rock band based in San Francisco. The band is made up of seven core members and several hundred additional members who actively participate in recordings, live performances, and other creative projects.
Leigh Marble is a singer/songwriter and record producer living in Portland, Oregon. Over the past eight years, he has released three albums whose approach to indie rock and folk music has been described as "punk Americana".
Radiation City was an American indie rock band that began in Portland, Oregon, in 2010. The band consisted of Cameron Spies, Elisabeth Ellison, Randy Bemrose, Matt Rafferty, and Patti King. There were two couples in the band. The band released four albums: Cool Nightmare, The Hands That Take You, Animals in the Median, and Synesthetica. The band was signed to the Polyvinyl Record Co. label.
The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education is the largest museum dedicated to the documented and visual history of the Jews of Oregon, United States. The Museum is dedicated to the preservation, research, and exhibition of art, archival materials, and artifacts of the Jews and Judaism in Oregon.
Suicide Squeeze Records is a Seattle, Washington-based independent record label that releases rock, pop, and metal music. Suicide Squeeze releases content on vinyl, CD, cassette, and digital. The label has also released comedy and performance art CD and DVDs.
Music of the Pacific Northwest encompasses many musical styles from prehistory to the modern Pacific Northwest.
Terry Robb is a Canadian fingerstyle guitarist, composer, arranger and record producer living in the United States. He plays electric and acoustic guitar, and is associated with the American Primitive Guitar genre through his collaboration with steel string guitarist John Fahey. He is a member of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame and Cascade Blues Association Hall of Fame, and was honored with the eponymous "Terry Robb" Muddy Award for Best Acoustic Guitar in 2011. His original compositions draw on the Delta blues, ragtime, folk music, country music and jazz traditions.
Hunger and Thirst is the second studio album by American indie rock band Typhoon. It was released in May 2010.
Dave Depper is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the guitarist and keyboardist for the Indie band Death Cab for Cutie.
Y La Bamba is a Latin indie alternative/experimental band led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Luz Elena Mendoza. She is a first generation Mexican American, and sings in both English and Spanish. The ensemble includes Mendoza: vocals, guitar; Ryan Oxford: vocals, guitar; Julia Mendiolea: vocals, keys; Miguel Jiménez-Cruz: drums; and Zack Terán: vocals, bass. Zack Terán occasionally joins with additional vocals.
Ural Thomas is an American soul music singer. While Thomas has made music for over fifty years, his public performances span two eras: the 1950s through 1960s, and as Ural Thomas and the Pain from 2013 through the present.
