Playing all original music, Jaime Leopold & the Short Stories celebrate a wild deck of characters in the style of what the band calls, “American Quirk: folk/country/acid memory”. It’s a collaborative effort with all the band members contributing to this genre bending music. The band features Jaime on guitar and vocals, Jennifer Smieja on vocals, Clark Salisbury on guitar; Aaron Lowe on harmonica, J. Michael Kearsey on bass, and Fred Ingram on drums.
Jaime’s songs are inspired by his early years in the Haight-Ashbury as a part of the youth culture of the day, where he hung out with many legends of those times–Allen Ginsburg, Neal Cassady, Jerry Garcia, to name a few. Jaime, totting his upright bass from his hometown of Portland to San Francisco, played in The Orkustra, a psychedelic electrified orchestra, before becoming the original and longtime bass player for Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks. His approach to art and life was strongly influenced by those freewheeling times.
If you want to read about some of Jaime’s Haight-Ashbury adventures click here: http://jaimeleopold.com/scribblings/
Jaime Leopold & the Short Stories continue to bring new tales of truth and consequence to all those willing to slow down and take a listen. Their new CD is entitled “Live At O’Connor’s”, a venerable Portland, Oregon roadhouse.
“Americana folk, embellished with a touch of country, then seasoned with a slice of blues-tinged longing. This is music that breathes life.”
– Tom Franks, Folk Words (UK)
“An album of literary slice-of-life gems.”
– Steve Murray, Oregon Music News“I love these songs.”
– Fiona Apple“The man’s a poet”
– Dan Hicks
Press:
Oregon Music News: Jaime Leopold: Hard-bitten Tales Along the Human Highway
Folkwords (England): Jaime Leopold & The Short Stories deliver ‘a dose of American quirk’
Victory Music (Seattle) : http://victorymusic.org