Jesus Piece, courtesy Kayla Menze. This week we feature Ryan Oakes’ exploration of masked mental health issues, Joseph’s affirmation, the industry savior faire of Tdot illdude, McKinley Dixon’s mournful tribute track, the never-ending nightmare of Jesus Piece and the passing acceptance of the inevitable with Lucero and Lucy Kruger &…

SAN FRANCISCO — April may be known as Fauxchella in the Bay Area, but it’s also a good month to catch some of the future breakouts at this year’s Outside Lands Music Festival. That was the case Sunday at the Independent, where harmonizing Portland trio Joseph made a splash.…

St. Lucia Looking back on my interviews over the past 12 months, the first thing that surprised me was just how busy I stayed: nearly 50 interviews of 10 minutes or longer, about a dozen more than 2015, which had seemed much busier. Interviewing artists is just one part…

The three sisters of harmonizing Oregon band Joseph got their start playing small shows with no backing arrangements apart from Natalie Closner’s sparse guitar, a keyboard and a kick drum. These days, they perform in front of hundreds of screaming fans at a time, with a full band in support,…

Allison, Meegan and Natalie Closner of Joseph. Courtesy photo. It may be impossible to glean now, judging only by the interplay of three-part golden harmonies that maneuver between folk, pop, and ’70s AM radio hits, but the three sisters of Oregon’s Joseph were not always as close as they…

Allison, Meegan and Natalie Closner Schepman of Joseph. Courtesy photo. To outsiders, Oregon is a bit of a mystery. Portland is the land of fancy, sugary doughnuts and hipsters, with their organic pickle farms. Hippies and Nike got their start in Eugene, and Animal House was filmed there. Then,…