Sean Carscadden bids farewell to Sonoma

Sonoma Valley’s loss will be soon be Portland’s gain – as local music mainstay Sean Carscadden will pull up roots from the town in which he was born and raised and strike up to the Emerald City to pursue his music career.

But not before one last show on Saturday, July 21, at the historic Sebastiani Theatre.

Carscadden will be pulling out all the stops for this one, not only is it his highly anticipated CD release party, but he will be showcasing two of his acts with two sets – first with Miss Lonely Hearts, followed by his own band with a number of players added to the bill, making it a truly large band.

Joining Carscadden on stage that evening will be Wyatt Hesemeyer, Mischa Gasch and Patty O’Connor of the band Miss Lonely Hearts laying down “outlaw country” tunes. After a short intermission, Carscadden kicks it up a notch with the most extended version of his own band to date – with Cliff Hugo on bass, Mikey Lee Cannon on drums, Doug Leibinger and Jason Thor on trombone, Dave Scott on trumpet, Ken Cook on piano, Dawn Angelosante and Tony Gibson on vocals and Josh Yenne on steel guitar who will lay down through a set of the “American Delta” inspired tunes.

Hundreds of players in Sonoma Valley have gotten their start in music from Carscadden, which was never part of the plan. Nor was music for that matter.

“A kid asked me if I gave private lessons and I started to say no – and instead said yes, yes I do,” says Carscadden. And from then it was on. Carscadden grew up with no real interest in music and didn’t even own any records (remember those?), but starting a band sounded like fun, so at the age of 12, Carscadden was tagged as the guitar player. His father had an acoustic guitar lying around and Carscadden picked it up and the band was born. After a couple lessons with a friend’s mom, he was hooked.

Over the years Carscadden has been mentored by and has mentored many familiar names in the local music scene, like Louis and Paul Christopulos, Jason Bodlovich, Phil Herrschaft, Marty O’Reilly, Ryan Tatarian, Isaac Carter and members of his current act, Cliff Hugo and Mikey Lee Cannon to name just a few.

He also started his own record label, with partner Andy Saks and recorded and produced albums for Sarah Summers, Miss Lonely Hearts and his duo with Marty O’Reilly.

Honestly, we always thought Carscadden would be plucked from the scene and land in Dire Straits or some other touring act – and it could still happen, he is that good.

Carscadden is one of those players that appeals to listeners of all ages and makes other musicians just shake their heads in awe of his style and abilities.

The show on Friday, July 21, with doors at 7:30 p.m. is sure to sell out, and advance tickets can be purchased at the theatre box office or online at brownpapertickets.com/event/2982555.

Good luck Sean, and if there’s any truth to the legend of Chief Solano, you’ll be back.

But, if not, be sure to remember us when you make it with the “Big Boys.”