Fan favorite to play, teach at festival

Ron Artis II & The Truth are the encore artists for the Sisters Folk Festival this year.

After their rousing success at last year’s festival, the band will be back performing their soulful blues-rock at multiple venues in town. Artis, who recently moved himself, his wife and three daughters to Portland, is looking forward to playing the festival again this year. They moved to Portland due to the fact that his touring has taken off in the past months, and it was easier to be closer to things, versus their home in Hawaii.

Artis, who grew up playing music, loved the range of talent on stage at the Sisters Folk Festival.

“One of my favorite parts of playing the festival was recognizing the educated ears of listeners there, and the festival is very specially curated and organized and I felt honored to be there,” said Artis.

Artis is not only returning to play, but will be one of the instructors at the Americana Song Academy at Caldera the week leading up to the festival. It is his first time teaching at the camp.

“I am really looking forward to not only teaching my own classes, but sitting in on a few of the others taught by fellow artists,” he said.

Artis will be teaching three days of classes, each with its own theme. The first day’s goal for his students is to find out who they are musically and what is their own sound and story, and take that journey.

“That part of it — finding who you are as an artist — is equally as hard as the craft itself,” he said.

The second day will be about finding your groove and feel as a performer.

“I will teach ways of finding a rhythm and focus on an emphasis on listening,” he said.

The third day will be even more of a focus on learning how to listen to your bandmates and fellow musicians and really highlight the importance of collaboration.

“I really want to emphasize the importance of learning and listening to those around you as other artists and musicians,” he said.

Artis did not teach himself these skills and ways to the craft. His father, Ron Artis I, was his teacher and mentor as a musician himself. Artis and his family played in a family band with their father for many years before Artis went out solo. As far as finding his own groove goes, he said it took him a long time.

“I wasn’t a very outgoing kid and it was hard for me to find out who I was musically because I wasn’t super outgoing and it was sort of terrifying to bare myself to the world,” he said.

He expressed the importance of knowing who you are first, and accepting that; otherwise it is just dishonest, and that will come across in performance.

“It is important as a musician to freely express yourself and not think about the performance, and learning that was an intense journey for me,” said Artis.

Artis always had a strong liking for melodies and the inner workings of music and learning about finding what moves you.

“If a song comes on and I am talking to someone, I get completely lost in the craft of the song, listening to every part and figuring out how they may be doing something with it,” he said.

Artis has always had the dream of working with musicians who perform with instruments in their rawest forms, a string band.

“I am a huge fan of classical instruments in their rawest, most pure form,” he said.

Artis will be bringing a string band to his Sunday performances at the Sisters Folk Festival. The band, Strings of Life, will be adding a classic bass, cello, viola, and two violins to a set of his songs. Not only will he be bringing two bands with him, his brother Thunderstorm Artis is slotted to perform his own music as well as a few songs with Ron and the Truth.

“Thunderstorm is really gifted, I am super stoked to have him there with us,” said Ron.

Not only will he have this special appearance of the string band — the Sunday of the festival, September 8 is also the release date of his newest album “Love is Love.”

“Those at the festival will be the first ones to get their hands on it,” he said.

The album features songs with the Strings of Life band and all new songs written and performed by Artis. He will be featuring some of these new songs and sounds to his sets at Sisters Folk Festival.

All of the songs off the new record reflect various emotions through the use of various instruments alongside Artis’ soulful dynamic voice. The title track off the record opens with a sweet interaction with his daughter Ida singing alongside him, with a slow, sweet ukulele tune behind their voices. The album contains a collection of tracks that are personal and real and tell the story of a musician exploring his life. “Love is Love” uses a number of various instrumental patterns and unique combinations of vocals, guitar, strings and horns to create a wholesome album about life, love and loss.

There are also a few songs written for his wife, Julia.

“My goal with those songs is to remind her how special she is and make her blush,” he said.

He famously left the folk festival crowd with a tear in their eye after performing his soulful ballad entitled after her name, “Julia,” and sang it to her while she was standing sidestage. His wife and three daughters, recently having the third, Adria, will be travelling with him to Sisters from Portland.

Ron Artis and the Truth will be performing at the SFF Friday, Saturday and Sunday, September 6-8. For tickets and information visit http://www.sistersfolkfestival.org. There are a few spots for the song academy; more information can be found at: http://www.sistersfolkfestival.org/americana-song-academy/.