TEST- The Aztec Theatre

Event Detail

Bruce & Kelly's Holiday Shindig

All Ages
at Portland International Raceway
1940 North Victory Boulevard, Portland, OR 97217
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AUSTIN, Texas — If Austin’s happily egalitarian music scene suddenly switched to a monarchy, Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis might have to learn to perform while balancing hefty crowns. The two already reign as one of Americana music’s coolest couples, and their latest release, Our Year, elevates them closer to the lofty territory once occupied by beloved royals Johnny ’n’ June and George ’n’ Tammy. Not that they would ever seek royal treatment, of course. This duo is way too down-to-earth for Downton Abbey airs. They’re Texans, after all. Robison is a Bandera boy; Oklahoma-born Willis an Army brat, got here as soon as she could. They fell in love while harmonizing together, though it took them until 2013 to release their first officially billed joint effort (not counting four children): Cheater’s Game. Cheaters Game was very well received and Willis and Robison felt the wind at their backs. They were eager to return to the studio. “With this album, we feel like we’re completing the picture,” Willis says. “These songs have been poking us on the shoulder, dying to be heard. We just didn’t feel like we were done. We had more to say.” Working again in Nashville with producer Brad Jones, they delivered their musical thoughts in 10 outstanding tracks, from formidable originals to well-honed covers including a knockout version of the Tom T. Hall-penned “Harper Valley PTA.” Jeannie C. Riley’s 1968 hit sounds like a classic all over again in the hands of this pair — and the chicken-pickin’, mandolin-plucking, shaker-grooving players who back them on this tart tale. On their shared website, Willis describes how she learned the song in secret in order to zing her hubby for veering off the set list during one of their shared performances, dubbed “The Bruce and Kelly Show.” It went over so well, they not only added it to their set, they made it the album’s leadoff single.

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