Sallie Ford

Blessed with a powerful, singular, and flexible voice, singer, guitarist, and songwriter Sallie Ford first built her name on retro-inflected material rooted in classic jazz, blues, and rock before pursuing a bolder, contemporary direction with a fresh lineup. Born in Asheville, North Carolina on September 4, 1987, she was raised among creative parents—her father a noted puppeteer and her mother a music instructor—yet chose to distance herself from their accomplished paths by embracing the role of “the weird one” in the family and abandoning childhood violin studies in favor of guitar and vocal work.

In 2006 she left college and relocated to Portland, Oregon, where exposure to Southern acts such as the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Cat Power, alongside longtime admiration for Tom Waits, helped shape a fresh approach to singing and songwriting while she earned a living as a server. There she connected with Alaskan transplants Tyler Tornfelt on bass and Ford Tennis on drums, who had arrived seeking to start a group; the three quickly bonded and soon added guitarist Jeffrey Munger after he encountered them performing on a Portland street, forming the quartet Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside.

The band issued its first EP in 2009 and was voted Portland’s best new band by Willamette Week the next year. Further momentum came when an Avett Brothers member discovered them, praised their inventive, off-kilter vintage style in interviews, and invited the group to open shows. After signing with Partisan Records, Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside recorded the albums Dirty Radio in 2011 and Untamed Beast in 2013 along with the Summer EP in 2013, then announced their disbandment in December 2013.

Ford had long expressed a desire to assemble an all-female group, and she fulfilled that goal by assuming lead guitar duties herself and enlisting Cristina Cano of Albatross and Siren & the Sea on keyboards, Anita Lee Elliot of Viva Voce and Blue Giant on bass, and Amanda Spring of Point Juncture, WA on drums. Drawing inspiration from female rock figures including Pat Benatar, Exene Cervenka, and PJ Harvey, she composed material with a harder, modern edge and entered the studio under producer Chris Funk of the Decemberists. Her first solo release, Slap Back, appeared on Vanguard Records in October 2014. She followed with the 2017 Vanguard album Soul Sick.