An Evening with Mary Flower & Leon Cotter

Mary Flower (finger-picking / lap slide guitar / vocals), Leon Cotter (clarinet)
An evening featuring Mary Flower & Leon Cotter (of the California Honeydrops) performing early jazz, blues, and swing woven through with improvisation, songs and stories. Mary Flower says, ‘Playing w/ Leon will be the most fun way for me to celebrate another trip around the sun.’
Mary Flower’s immense finger-picking guitar and lap-slide prowess is soulful and meter-perfect, a deft blend of the inventive, the dexterous, and the mesmerizing. Her supple honey-and-whiskey voice provides the perfect melodic accompaniment to each song’s story.
Clarinet player Leon Cotter has led a varied musical life, spending much of the last decade touring the country with soul/blues band The California Honeydrops, while maintaining a reputation as a sought after sideman and bandleader in Portland, Oregon.

Mary Flower’s immense finger-picking guitar and lap-slide prowess is soulful and meter-perfect, a deft blend of the inventive, the dexterous, and the mesmerizing. Her supple honey-and-whiskey voice provides the perfect melodic accompaniment to each song’s story.

An internationally known and award-winning picker, singer/songwriter and teacher, the Midwest native relocated from Denver to the vibrant Portland, Oregon music scene in 2004. She continues to please crowds and critics at folk festivals, teaching seminars and concert stages domestically and abroad, that include Merlefest, Kerrville, King Biscuit, Prairie Home Companion and the Vancouver Folk Festival, among many.

A finalist in 2000 and 2002 at the National Finger Picking Guitar Championship, a nominee in 2008, 2012, and 2016 for a Blues Foundation Blues Music Award, and many times a Cascade Blues Association. Muddy Award winner, Flower embodies a luscious and lusty mix of rootsy, acoustic-blues guitar and vocal styles that span a number of idioms – from Piedmont to the Mississippi Delta, with stops in ragtime, swing, folk and hot jazz.

Flower’s 11 recordings, including her four for Memphis’ famed Yellow Dog Records — Bywater Dance, Instrumental Breakdown, Bridges and Misery Loves Company — show a deep command of and love for folk and blues string music. For Flower, it’s never about re-creation. Her dedication to the art form is a vital contribution to America’s music.

Clarinet player Leon Cotter has led a varied musical life, spending much of the last decade touring the country with soul/blues band The California Honeydrops, while maintaining a reputation as a sought after sideman and bandleader in Portland, Oregon. He draws from a deep well of inspiration as an improvisor and soloist, with influences ranging from 20s clarinet virtuoso Sidney Becket, to South African piano legend Abdullah Ibrahim, to folk and bluegrass masters like Tony Rice and Tim O’Brien. When he’s not out with the Honeydrops, Leon performs regularly with Portland based bands Social Music (led by drummer Alan Jones) and Reb & the Good News, and leads his own quartet.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Artichoke Community Music