David Jacobs-Strain to play

HarmonyHouse will host David Jacobs-Strain on Saturday, January 16. Doors open at 7 p.m., music starts at 8 p.m.

David Jacobs-Strain is a fierce slide guitar player who channels the musical spirit of the Mississippi Delta, and hand-hewn stories of his home in Oregon.

At 10 years old he was busking on the streets of Eugene and Seattle; by 19 he was playing at the Newport Folk Festival and opening for Etta James, and at 21 he dropped out of Stanford to play music full-time.

"As I go further into music, the path seems to change," he said. "When I first started playing I wanted to capture the feeling of the Delta blues. Now I want to tell stories; the sound and rhythm of the slide guitar are a vehicle for the characters in my head."

In "Hurricane Railroad," Jacobs-Strain sets a scene on the fringes of Oregon: "There's a tar-paper shack at the edge of the clear-cut/ blackberry vines for a front yard/ living out on power line road/ drinking rainforest water out of mason jars."

The mood is rugged but playful, the 12-string-guitar groove sits somewhere between Leo Kotke and Little Feat, and the blues is a way of feeling, as much as a scale or a style.

On Jacobs-Strain's upcoming release, "Live with Bob Beach," the songs have become more personal and intimate.

"The best songs seem to arrive as little discoveries - the less intention I have for them the better," he said. "If I already know what I want to say, what's the point?"

Although "Strong Believer" and "Thank You Nice Lady" deliver signature slide guitar and harmonica jams, the heart the of album is "Already Gone," where Jacobs-Strain wrestles with the death of his long-time girlfriend:

"People ask me if you suffered/ I tell them one thing or another/ Don't they know I can't protect them/ It's only fear that misdirects them." "The song came as a complete thought - the sound of the words came before the meaning. It was everything I had struggled to say for a year that I couldn't put into words."

"Live with Bob Beach" will be out within a few months; you can pick up a pre-release copy at the HarmonyHouse concert on January 16.

HarmonyHouse is located at 17505 Kent Rd. (off Cloverdale Road). Suggested donation $20. Call 541-548-2209 for information and directions.