Lewi Longmire

Lewi Longmire sings, writes songs, and handles an extensive range of instruments—among them guitar, piano, organ, mandolin, banjo, lap and pedal steel, accordion, drums, trumpet, and harmonica—making him the ultimate session musician while also directing the Lewi Longmire Band through its distinctive roots-rock approach, one that fuses the Band with the Sir Douglas Quintet and Joe Cocker on vocals. In this setting he emerges as a commanding frontman and bandleader. Raised in rural New Mexico within a musical household, he started on guitar as a teenager and continued expanding his instrumental collection from that point forward. He relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to enroll at the University of New Mexico, yet after launching the hippie punk jam band Apricot Jam he left school to pursue music full time. The group moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1997 and disbanded soon after. Longmire decided to remain in Portland, where he began performing with a wide circle of regional artists and became a frequent studio presence. His instrumental flexibility served as a clear advantage, eventually placing him in the touring ensembles of Michael Hurley, Victoria Williams, and additional performers. He also maintained regular appearances in an acoustic duo with Annalisa Turnfelt. Eventually he assembled the Lewi Longmire Band, bringing in bassist Bill Rudolph and drummer Ned Folkerth, and stepped forward with an intense mix of roots rock and old country blues. The band issued If I Live to Be 100 in 2004, Crazy Coyote in 2007, and Fire 'Neath the Still in 2008.