Musician crafts CD in Sisters

Slater Smith is building a music career out of Portland these days, but his musical roots remain in Sisters. An alum of the Sisters Folk Festival's Americana Project, Smith recorded his recent release "Mr. Pelton's Weather Machine" in Sisters.

"I recorded all of it in and around Sisters," he said. "Travis Ehrenstrom with the folk festival helped me out a ton."

Smith recorded six of the CD's 10 tracks with Ehrenstrom, then recorded four strictly acoustic tracks at Echo Ridge Music with Brent Alan and Jim Goodwin.

Smith knew going into the project that he had neither the time nor the money to make it into a big production.

"I picked songs that I thought would sound good underproduced," he said. "I'm pretty happy with the result."

Smith has graduated from Willamette University with a degree in political science. However, his focus is on music.

"I'm trying to make a career in music," he said. "I decided two summers ago that I'd need to do that or I'd regret it forever."

The university culture has been a fertile ground for him, supporting his CD release concert and providing the CD title.

"It's a Willamette University thing, kind of an inside joke on campus," Smith said.

The musician and songwriter is using his title - or at least part of it - for a musical nom de plume: The Weather Machine. His own name does not appear on the CD.

Smith plans to perform in Sisters with Jena Rickards at the new Clearwater Gallery on July 27. He expects to have the CD in local stores by then. For now, Mr. Pelton's Weather Machine can be obtained at http://www.slatersmith.com/

weathermachine, on iTunes or at http://www.amazon.com under Weather Machine.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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