John Craigie

Portland folkster John Craigie is as much storyteller as musician. His songs resemble character sketches, and the narrators on his latest album, No Rain, No Rose, include retired astronaut Michael Collins and the state of California (“Make love on my beaches / Smoke all my weed”), as well as assorted ramblers and wanderers and hopeless romantics. No Rain is something of a tribute to his city and its vibrant music scene. It was recorded in Craigie’s living room with his folk musician friends, including the Shook Twins, Jay Cobb Anderson and Gregory Alan Isakov, and it captures the feel of an impromptu sing-along session. Sometimes deliberately shaggy, it includes the idle chatter that happens between takes, and it even features a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Tumbling Dice” from Exile on Main Street, another album recorded in a house-turned-studio.