The SlimJims Play The Left Coast Eisteddfod, Portland, Oregon

The SlimJims will be opening the friday night show at the Left Coast Eisteddfod on August 21st at the McMenamins Crystal Ballroom in Portland Oregon. Also on the bill will be Jesus Presley, Western Aerial and Runaway Norm. The show starts at 8 p.m. and doors will open at 7. You can buy tickets direct from Ticketmaster HERE. Band leader Shane Todd talks about the band in a short article below. To hear The Slimjims follow this LINK. SlimJims band member and founder Shane Todd says "the whole focus of our group is producing what I call ' The Living Room Sound.' We perform as if we are setting up in your house and playing songs with everyone who came by with their instruments." Todd, lead singer and guitarist, says the SlimJims accomplish that because all of the band's instrumentation is acoustic-based, harking back to the time when his Irish American ancestors would gather together at someone’s home to play music on the weekends in the mountains of West Virginia after working in the coal mines. “That’s exactly what my great grandmother did; sang, played guitar and essentially was the coordinator for Saturday night jams at her cabin”. The Portland area band originated about seven years ago and now includes Stephen Cambron (pedal steel, electric guitar), Seth Garon (bass, vocals), Deborah Katz (fiddle, vocals) and Paul Hampton (drummer). Todd, said he has produced the band's show as a tribute to his American Irish musical roots spanning about five decades with the songs he used to listen to as a young child spending time with his father as he worked on his motorcycles in the garage. "He used to play a lot of Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Chet Atkins," Todd said. “All this classic American music has deep roots in our Irish and Welsh heritage.” The SlimJims, which recently headlined a list of eight bands that performed on July 4th at Esther Short Park in Vancouver, also likes to focus on "B side hits. ''True fans would know those songs because they would play both sides of all the records," said Todd.