Pat Kearns
I thought I would spend the rest of my life in Portland, Oregon. I was the third generation of my small family to live and work in the Pacific Northwest log and steel town. I had carved out a life recording and mixing music in a dank studio behind my longtime punk rock pals' guitar and amp shop, Centaur Guitar. My wife, Susan, owned her own hair salon just down the hill from our house near Mt Tabor Park. We had everything figured out.
You can count on life to throw you some curve balls. Gentrification, with it's skyrocketing rents and cycles of demolition and construction, gave Susan and I a solid push to pick up our things and create a new reality way out in the Mojave Desert near the town of Joshua Tree, California. So Long City, indeed.
We sold our house and I closed the recording studio in Portland, Oregon. We moved into a tiny homestead cabin in the desert. That cabin is off the electrical grid. We use solar panels and batteries to run our electricity. Down In The Wash is my second solo album. It was recorded and mixed in our cabin in the Mojave.
When it rains in the desert, the water runs. The channels it follows are called washes. Most of the time, washes are dry. Coyotes, hares, roadrunners, bobcats, tortoises, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, kangaroo rats, iguanas... out here in the desert, the washes are a thoroughfare. It's the street. It's where the actions is.
Down In The Wash features a small sample of the amazing musicians this desert has to offer. Faith and Tim Chinnock from The Adobe Collective both sing. Tim plays the drums too. Joe Garcia of Urban Desert Cabaret plays lead guitar. Luke Dawson from RF Shannon plays the pedal steel. Bobby Furgo (Leonard Cohen, Nancy Sinatra, Lee Hazelwood) plays Lowery Organ. Susan Kearns plays upright and electric bass. I sing and play guitar, harmonica and organ.
The front cover is a painting by Susan Kearns. Susan created a series of 11 paintings for Down In The Wash. One painting for each song on the album.
Publicity U.S. - Kaytea Moreno-Elst kaytea@xopublicity.com
Publicity Continental Europe - Peter Holmstedt, Hemifrån peter.holmstedt@telia.com
U.K. - Rob Ellen rob@medicinemusic.co.uk
Astro Lizard Records - jarrett@astrolizardrecords.com brent@astrolizardrecords.com
Pat Kearns velvafonic@gmail.com / www.PatKearnsMusic.com
Pat Kearns is an American record producer and engineer. His credits include Guitar Romantic by The Exploding Hearts, By The Time Your Rocket Gets to Mars by Jerry Joseph, Changes by The Reverberations and A Thousand Guitars by Terry & Louie. Pat Kearns fronted the acclaimed powerpop group, Blue Skies For Black Hearts. In 2016, he released his debut solo album, So Long City and left Portland for the Mojave Desert. Down In The Wash was recorded and mixed using solar powered electricity in the Kearns' 550 square foot homestead cabin. Near the cabin, Pat and Susan are building a large off grid recording studio which will open in the Fall of 2019.
“Pat Kearns might have been excused if he chose to simply rest on his reputation and relegate himself to an inconspicuous role within his band or to a supporting player for one of his clients. Instead, he’s opted to position himself front and center with only the barest accompaniment and the most minimal of instrumentation. The results are manifest in an album that is exceedingly tranquil throughout..." - Lee Zimmerman, No Depression
https://www.nodepression.com/album-reviews/pat-kearns-goes-solo-with-a-dramatic-debut/
"He sings about the things I've lived through, such as moving to new places, trying to make and keep new friends, being on the road, getting away from it all and leading a simpler life." - The Vinyl Anachronist
http://thevinylanachronist.blogspot.com/2016/07/pat-kearns-so-long-city-on-cd.html
"You can hear assorted influences at work, among them Dylan, McGuinn, Dewey Bunnell and early Jeff Tweedy while slow waltzing, summer lazing, strummed closer Will You Come With Me Where I Go with its lengthy guitar break suggests Sam Cooke may be in there too." - Mike Davies, Folk Radio (UK)
https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2016/09/pat-kearns-long-city/
"Pat Kearns has done it all: produce, write, sing, play and he has been doing so out of Portland for the last few decades. His debut solo release “So Long City” however found its own sound outside of the city limits. This new album tells a story of leaving his hometown... It will be a sad day for Portland when they realize they have pushed out everything and everyone that made it what it is and the phrase So Long City becomes just as famous as Keep Portland Weird. Kudos to Pat Kearns and this release for something beautiful still there." - Lou Flesh, Paste Magazine
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/03/exclusive-video-premiere-portlands-pat-kearns-gives-you-somber-nostalgia-blended-with-hope-about-moving-on-with-so-long-city.html
"One of Portland’s best singer-songwriters is Pat Kearns, whose output with Blue Skies for Black Hearts has constituted some of America’s best power pop of the past decade" - Rob Cullivan, Portland Tribune
https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/11-features/338963-218394-live-music
You can count on life to throw you some curve balls. Gentrification, with it's skyrocketing rents and cycles of demolition and construction, gave Susan and I a solid push to pick up our things and create a new reality way out in the Mojave Desert near the town of Joshua Tree, California. So Long City, indeed.
We sold our house and I closed the recording studio in Portland, Oregon. We moved into a tiny homestead cabin in the desert. That cabin is off the electrical grid. We use solar panels and batteries to run our electricity. Down In The Wash is my second solo album. It was recorded and mixed in our cabin in the Mojave.
When it rains in the desert, the water runs. The channels it follows are called washes. Most of the time, washes are dry. Coyotes, hares, roadrunners, bobcats, tortoises, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, kangaroo rats, iguanas... out here in the desert, the washes are a thoroughfare. It's the street. It's where the actions is.
Down In The Wash features a small sample of the amazing musicians this desert has to offer. Faith and Tim Chinnock from The Adobe Collective both sing. Tim plays the drums too. Joe Garcia of Urban Desert Cabaret plays lead guitar. Luke Dawson from RF Shannon plays the pedal steel. Bobby Furgo (Leonard Cohen, Nancy Sinatra, Lee Hazelwood) plays Lowery Organ. Susan Kearns plays upright and electric bass. I sing and play guitar, harmonica and organ.
The front cover is a painting by Susan Kearns. Susan created a series of 11 paintings for Down In The Wash. One painting for each song on the album.
Publicity U.S. - Kaytea Moreno-Elst kaytea@xopublicity.com
Publicity Continental Europe - Peter Holmstedt, Hemifrån peter.holmstedt@telia.com
U.K. - Rob Ellen rob@medicinemusic.co.uk
Astro Lizard Records - jarrett@astrolizardrecords.com brent@astrolizardrecords.com
Pat Kearns velvafonic@gmail.com / www.PatKearnsMusic.com
Pat Kearns is an American record producer and engineer. His credits include Guitar Romantic by The Exploding Hearts, By The Time Your Rocket Gets to Mars by Jerry Joseph, Changes by The Reverberations and A Thousand Guitars by Terry & Louie. Pat Kearns fronted the acclaimed powerpop group, Blue Skies For Black Hearts. In 2016, he released his debut solo album, So Long City and left Portland for the Mojave Desert. Down In The Wash was recorded and mixed using solar powered electricity in the Kearns' 550 square foot homestead cabin. Near the cabin, Pat and Susan are building a large off grid recording studio which will open in the Fall of 2019.
“Pat Kearns might have been excused if he chose to simply rest on his reputation and relegate himself to an inconspicuous role within his band or to a supporting player for one of his clients. Instead, he’s opted to position himself front and center with only the barest accompaniment and the most minimal of instrumentation. The results are manifest in an album that is exceedingly tranquil throughout..." - Lee Zimmerman, No Depression
https://www.nodepression.com/album-reviews/pat-kearns-goes-solo-with-a-dramatic-debut/
"He sings about the things I've lived through, such as moving to new places, trying to make and keep new friends, being on the road, getting away from it all and leading a simpler life." - The Vinyl Anachronist
http://thevinylanachronist.blogspot.com/2016/07/pat-kearns-so-long-city-on-cd.html
"You can hear assorted influences at work, among them Dylan, McGuinn, Dewey Bunnell and early Jeff Tweedy while slow waltzing, summer lazing, strummed closer Will You Come With Me Where I Go with its lengthy guitar break suggests Sam Cooke may be in there too." - Mike Davies, Folk Radio (UK)
https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2016/09/pat-kearns-long-city/
"Pat Kearns has done it all: produce, write, sing, play and he has been doing so out of Portland for the last few decades. His debut solo release “So Long City” however found its own sound outside of the city limits. This new album tells a story of leaving his hometown... It will be a sad day for Portland when they realize they have pushed out everything and everyone that made it what it is and the phrase So Long City becomes just as famous as Keep Portland Weird. Kudos to Pat Kearns and this release for something beautiful still there." - Lou Flesh, Paste Magazine
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/03/exclusive-video-premiere-portlands-pat-kearns-gives-you-somber-nostalgia-blended-with-hope-about-moving-on-with-so-long-city.html
"One of Portland’s best singer-songwriters is Pat Kearns, whose output with Blue Skies for Black Hearts has constituted some of America’s best power pop of the past decade" - Rob Cullivan, Portland Tribune
https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/11-features/338963-218394-live-music