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 So a squirrel and a bird walked into a recording studio…

    It sounds like the start to a joke, but that is essentially what’s happened with the musical collaboration between Portland, Oregon native Frank Murray and Vancouver, Washington native, Josiah ‘Sparrow’ Wren.   

   Frank’s influences from British invasion era rock and Sparrow’s love of lyrically driven singer songwriter music, together with their shared love of 70’s and 80’s classic rock meld together to form something new with underpinnings of Americana, Indi, and Rock.   Frank Murray, well known for fronting the award-winning Tom Petty tribute band, Petty Fever, has a style and stage presence like no other having honed his craft on stage with some of the top acts in the Pacific Northwest. His amazing ability to communicate with the guitar and his masterful vocals are respected locally and nationally. 

   Sparrow Wren, a lyricist best known for her live solo shows, has been converting traditionally male hard rock anthems at venues in Oregon and Washington. Original music sprinkles into her set list, but it wasn’t until early 2023 that the original music really started to take flight. 

   The switch came when local DJ Dave Spacek from KISN caught Runaway for Riley, an original song, at a Sparrow Wren show. The song was featured as a blues/Christian crossover on Dave’s show and DJ Spacek connected Sparrow and Frank with Timmer Blakely at Lightning In A Bottle Records. Suddenly the home studio project morphed into a full studio recording production. 

   “I’m really excited about this project!” says Frank. “I’ve worked with several very successful song writers over the years and I feel like this collaboration has chemistry that could produce good things!” 

   The first good thing is a nine song CD entitled Feather and Fur which was released on February 13, 2024 with an in-store performance at Music Millennium in Portland, OR on February 13 and at Blue Diamond PDX on February 14. Valentine’s Day was a bit of an ironic release date in that Sparrow’s lyrics are decidedly not gooey love songs.

   “Love is messy. Every time I try to write something sweet and traditional it turns into something a bit more complicated!” says Sparrow.  

   Between Sparrow’s ‘Love and Connection through Music’ goal and Frank’s lifetime of performance and squirrel-like collection of riffs and ideas, this musical partnership has something for every critter’s tastes!

Featherandfurmusic.com

Lightninginabottlerecords.com