Santiam Sun, Umpqua Moon is a collection of songs in the singer-songwriter genre -- but the writer, Chip Kiger, doesn't sing or play on the CD. So call it folk-rock. These 14 songs, subtitled "An Oregon Song Cycle," all are set in the state of which I'm a lifelong resident. They run the gamut from bluesy shuffles to atmospheric ballads, with five different vocalists fronting a band with a rotating cast of players.
The chief singer is one Richard Ochoa, with a gravelly baritone that, on the rockers like "The Geoduck Grill," combines elements of Bob Seeger and Rod Stewart. It's an effective instrument, but I was thankful for the lyrics printed in the accompanying booklet, because enunciation isn't his strong suit. Ochoa's tracks range from the power ballad "We've Come So Far," which is either about the Oregon Trail or a relationship on the skids, to the languid love song "Up Hood River Way," to the incongruously upbeat "Will-o-the-Wisp," in which a homeless mentally ill man commits suicide in front of a train.
Melissa Bullock and Corrina Bilderback do the vocals on several other tracks, mostly coffeehouse-folk numbers like "South Coast Girl," about growing up in a poverty-stricken fishing family. Marshall Bex and Shannon Bex share the vocals on the poignant and simple-hearted "Canoeing Odell."
"Geoduck," by the way, is pronounced "gooey-duck," Hood River is a town, Odell is a lake in the Cascades, and Santiam and Umpqua are both rivers, all of which you'd know if you were from the Pacific Northwest. Otherwise, I don't suppose you'd care. Which is a problem with the CD. It's laden with place-names that don't mean much to anyone outside of Oregon, and this penchant for name-dropping leads to some fairly awkward rhymes and meters.
There's no clue as to who these people are in the liner notes, but the music didn't compell me to really care. The best part of the CD is the beautiful photography by Steve Terrill of Portland.
If you want to learn more, write to Epiphany Road Music, P.O. Box 2602, Eugene OR, 97402; or e-mail epiphany@pond.net.
