8 Questions With Sallie Ford

Shelley Bowers – August 9, 2010

Winner of Willamette Week’s Best New Band of 2010, Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside have been taking Portland by storm with their fresh yet vintage brand of bluesy rock and roll. You can catch then Sunday 8/22 at 3pm with Adam Shearer (Weinland) for the Portland Folk Festival edition of Doug Fir’s Pickin’ on Sundays.

1. How have you and the Sound Outside evolved as a band over this past
year, especially in light of the level of success you have been
experiencing?

There has been some trial and error, but for the most part we have been very lucky and had a great time this past year. I recently quit my day job, and now we are all doing music full time. Going on tours and recording in the studio has helped us play better together and be better performers.

2. How did you first become acquainted with the Avett Brothers, and in
what ways have they been supportive to you and your band? What was it
like to go from playing small clubs to suddenly performing for such a
large audience?

I met the Avett Brothers through my friend Jeremy Davis (who is a local artist in Portland). The Avett Brothers have helped us out by having us open for them over the last year. We opened for about 10 shows. It was exciting and scary to suddenly have a huge audience, and that experience has pushed us to really work as hard as possible to do this as a career. I have become friends with Seth Avett, and he is such a kind person and offers his advice to me.

3. How have audiences outside of Portland reacted to your music? Any
touring plans in the works?

We have felt really good about audiences outside of Portland. Everyone has seemed to be welcoming and kind. We hope to do as much touring as possible in the future. We have a few small tour plans this fall, but we are mostly focusing on putting out our full length.

4. Are there any up and coming local musicians that you have been
particularly impressed by lately?

Our favorite bands recently have been: AgesAndAges, Pancake Breakfast, Quiet Life and Sean Flinn & the Royal We.

5. I understand that you plan to release a full length album this
coming fall. What have been the deepest challenges and the greatest
joys that you’ve experienced while working on the new record? What can
we expect from this anticipated release?

We hoped to have the album ready by the Fall, but it looks like it won’t be out till Winter or Spring 2011. We just finished up at the studio last week, and we still need to work on sequencing, mastering and artwork. The challenges we have faced haven’t been too bad. It’s a little scary to be doing our first record, and we have made a conscious decision to produce it ourselves. We are still deciding what the final song selection will be. We don’t mind that we are taking our time and we hope it will still have a certain rawness and freshness, because we are all young musicians. So far we are happy with the way the record sounds, thanks to engineers Adam Selzer (of Type Foundry) and Mike Coykendall (of Blue Room studios). Everything was recorded on tape and with analog equipment. We had fun adding fun overdubs, like vibraphone, violin, wurlitzer, rhodes and crazy percussion. Can’t wait for the Portlanders to hear it!

6. In what ways has music played a part in your upbringing? How does
your family feel about the music you have been creating lately?

Both my parents are musicians. We sang a lot together as a family. They weren’t too surprised when I started creating my own music. I used to experiment with my voice as a young kid. My whole family is extremely supportive!

7. What do you feel is the most fulfilling part of being a musician?

I like creating something where I can vent and express my emotions and for it also to be art. I struggled in my teens to find an art that would be that for me, and I have finally found my calling I suppose.

8. Can you name a few of your greatest musical influences, especially
some that your fans may not be expecting? What is particularly
inspiring about these artists?

My influences would be:
Tom Waits-because the way he is unafraid to be original and daring.
Django Rhinehardt-because of the talent and care he played with and the way his music swings and makes you want to dance.
Bessie Smith- because the sassy way she sang and had unusual emphasis on her words that had incredible rhythm.