Catskills

Beginning in 2006, Gregory Rawlins began releasing albums. First with Seattle-based Sons of Guns, then self-recorded solo material, and eventually among the La Grande psychedelic rock quartet, Catskills. All told, Rawlins has had his hand in ten full-length albums in the last decade, ranging from pensive and minimalist folk tunes, to driving, amped-up Americana, to all out mind-bending 17-minute compositions alongside bandmates Wayne Marvin Callahan, Andy Steele, and Jeff Grammer. Though known for his penchant to depart from mainstream music entirely, the keen and incisive lyricism is perhaps Rawlins’ best attribute– as it always manages to present an old idea through a fresh, poetic lens– unabashedly unrefined and wild. If these songs belong at the Smithsonian, they’d most likely reside out front on a stand where an old sailor vends apple pie, baseballs and hatchets.