Ron Artis II will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Tower Theatre in Bend.

One step forward, two steps back. Earlier this week, the state banned indoor social gatherings of more than 10 people, with the exception of churches and businesses. The news comes as COVID-19 cases continue to spike in Oregon and throughout the U.S. But at least in Central Oregon, live music lives — in mostly outdoor spaces, 6 feet apart, with face masks, etc. (we know the drill by now, yes?). And in the last week, a sleeping giant reawakened, and a potential new one emerged.

Staying ‘Close to Home’

As Central Oregonian music fans know, the Sisters Folk Festival is not just the festival. The organization behind the annual September event also hosts myriad fundraising concerts throughout the year, such as its winter and summer concert series, as well as educational programs in Sisters schools and its annual Americana Song Academy camp.

But to state the obvious, this is not a normal year. The organization’s programming went dark in mid-March due to the pandemic lockdown, and has stayed quiet even as Central Oregon entered Phase 1 and then Phase 2 of reopening.

That will change Aug. 1 with the first Close to Home concert on the lawn of the Sisters Art Works building, which the organization purchased last year. The show, which kicks off at 5 p.m., will feature a bevy of SFF favorites all from Oregon (hence, close to home), including funk/soul/blues group Ron Artis II & The Truth; a team-up between folk/blues favorites Beth Wood and David Jacobs-Strain; singer-songwriters Jeffrey Martin and Haley Johnsen (the only SFF newcomer in the group).

Wood and Jacobs-Strain are no strangers to the area, but their collaboration is new. The team-up grew out of a live stream show hosted by SFF and Grange Recorders earlier this year.

“Another goal of ours is to have some musical alchemy,” Brad Tisdel, the organization’s creative director, said. “The three artists that they’ve been to the festival the last several years together — certainly last year. It’ll be a cool way for them to explore with one another some musical magic, if you will.”

With outdoor crowds limited to 250 by the state, only 190 seats will be available for concertgoers. These seats will be set up in nine rows of either two- or four-person pods, with at least six feet of space between the pods, per the ticketing page at eventbrite.com. Therefore, individual tickets will not be sold; attendees will need to purchase an entire two- or four-person pod.

The page also promises heavy sanitization of frequently touched surfaces including porta-potty latches and counters; touchless payment systems and plexiglass shields between volunteers and attendees at check-in stations, merchandise booths and beverage areas. Speaking of, the organization will sell alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, and a food vendor will be on site; all food and drink must be consumed in the pods. Face masks will be required except for inside your seating pod.

“We made it pretty clear that if it’s a hardship for people to follow the protocols, or wearing a face mask besides inside your pod is a difficulty for whatever reason — we would just invite people to not attend the event, frankly,” Tisdel said.

If this show goes well, the organization could host another one Sept. 12 and 13 — i.e. the weekend of the postponed Sisters Folk Festival. (Of the 28 acts confirmed for this year’s festival, 25 have rebooked for the postponed event to take place next September, Tisdel said.)

If another show happens the weekend of Sept. 12, it would also probably be branded as a Close to Home concert, and could take place on two outdoor stages: Sisters Art Works and Sisters Village Green.

“The idea also being that we’re booking artists that are close to home (and) we’re trying to encourage people close to home to buy tickets,” Tisdel said. “It is not our intention to bring people from far and wide to our community. But for the people that are here, if they want to see live music and they want to experience that again and we can do it in a safe way, we’re inviting them to attend. It should be a great evening of music.”

High Desert sounds

In early May, a call went out on Facebook for submissions for a compilation featuring Central Oregon-based musicians put together by a new music organization, the High Desert Music Collective. That compilation, “High Desert Calling, Volume One,” dropped on Bandcamp on Saturday (highdesertmusiccollective.bandcamp.com/releases) and features a whopping 58 tracks from artists spanning metal, hip-hop, garage rock, punk, country, R&B and just about any other genre you can imagine.

Featured artists include Mosley Wotta, Joel Chadd, The Parnells, Company Grand, Appaloosa, Gravewitch, Zipline, Wild Bells, Lande, Coyote Willow, Victory Swig and too many more to name. The compilation also features “Anvil” by Drift and “With a Ghost” by Emily Rajcic, winners of a contest held in June for the compilation (the prize included recording time at Central Oregon Recording).

“It kind of gives me the same feeling that every year going to (Bend) Roots (Revival) does,” project manager Jeshua Marshall said, “where I’m watching somebody play and I’m like, ‘Damn, they’re from Bend too?’ You always walk away from it just being stoked about the caliber of musicians and creativity that’s here.”

The album is the first volley from the High Desert Music Collective, an organization that is “dedicated to connecting people from diverse perspectives who want to grow and support others in our community of music,” according to its website, highdesertmusiccollective.com.

Musician Charlie Utter, who moved to Bend from New Hampshire about a year ago, started the collective earlier this year after immersing himself in the local open mic scene. Through that, he met prominent local musicians such as Marshall (known for work with Larry and His Flask, Guardian of the Underdog and more), Eric Leadbetter and Central Oregon Recording co-owner Scott Baber. Earlier this year, he started booking music for Silver Moon Brewing.

“I’d already been talking to people about, what is the scene like, what’s going on?” Utter said. “And now I was connecting with an actual role in the scene, and so I was wondering how can I contribute best — not just as someone who is looking to be a part of it, but to really add to the scene? And after being at Silver Moon for a little bit, I just realized that a lot of people had already been saying what we could really use is some unification.

There are great organizations like Bend Roots and many others that already have brought a lot of people together, and it would be really cool to see more collaboration and connections happen in the music community here.”

When the lockdown hit in March, Utter switched his focus to the compilation. He also started hosting weekly online Zoom meetings Tuesdays with local musicians and music scene players.

“In that process, what came out of it was so many ideas, but a clear understanding that artists supporting artists is wonderful, and using the greatest resource, which is people, to make sure everyone knows about what we’re up to just benefits everybody,” Utter said. “So a lot of what we talk about is just ideas of how to connect dots. How can we get collaborations going? How can we get artists working with other artists? How can we get businesses to both contribute to but also be supported by the collective? How can we have nonprofits involved?”

The collective will host in-person meetings from 5 to 6 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month on Silver Moon Brewing’s patio going forward. Also, the collective will hold live and streamed songwriter-centric “storyteller” performances on Silver Moon’s patio from 6 to 8 p.m. every Tuesday, starting this Tuesday with Marshall.