Live Music

Oct. 15

For better or verse

Sometimes Amanda Sudano and Abner Ramirez of the soulful folk-pop-blues-rock duo Johnnyswim disagree a bit before going on stage. But after 90 minutes of staring at each other and playing, their conflicts tend to evaporate, they say.

“I feel like we’ve had to hone our communication skills to write songs together, to be on stage together, to stay married together,” Sudano says in a joint phone interview with Ramirez.

“There’s this constant sense of challenge and adventure,” Ramirez adds. “It’s never felt stagnant.”

The singer-songwriters hooked up in Nashville in 2005, when Ramirez, the son of Cuban immigrants, formed a musical partnership with Sudano — daughter of the late disco queen Donna Summer and producer Bruce Sudano. In addition to their 2014 debut full-length album, “Diamonds,” they’ve released three EPs, as well as a Christmas EP and a live album.

The couple also has a son, Joaquin, born over a year ago, who travels with them wherever they play.

“He’s great,” Sudano says. “He’s been on 84 flights and has visited three or four countries.”

Johnnyswim’s latest release is “Georgica Pond,” which continues the couple’s eclectic musical journey, and includes a collaboration with country singer Vince Gill, who helped out on “Lonely Night in Georgia.” Other highlights include “Let It Matter,” a touching Adele-like ballad that alludes to the fact Sudano mourns her mother, who died in 2012. When asked about how their music blurs so many lines sonically, Ramirez says their music is like America itself, increasingly interracial and cross-cultural.

“I grew up on soul music, old country, old Cuban music,” Ramirez says. “Our songs are what happens when you’ve soaked in music a long time.”

“We have passed our ‘cool’ prime, and we just want to be honest in what we do,” Sudano adds with a chuckle.

Acoustic Texas duo Penny & Sparrow, featuring Andy Baxter and Kyle Jahnke, open the show.

Johnnyswim, Penny & Sparrow, 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, Wonder Ballroom, 128 N.E. Russell St. All ages. $18 to $78. Info: 503-284-8686, >www.wonderballroom.com.

Oct. 20

Jonesin’ for her music

Good gravy, singer-instrumentalist Norah Jones has won nine Grammys. All without using Auto-Tune. She released her sixth studio album “Day Breaks” this month, and it signals a return to her more piano-oriented music of yore, touching on pop, soul and vocal jazz. The album’s first single “Carry On” plays to Jones’ strength, updating old-school sounds for new audiences, its terse lyrics lifted by a country gospel melody you could hear in any variety of churches on a bright Sunday morning.

“After the first record, I drifted away from the piano a little bit,” Jones says. “I still played it, but was more inspired to write on guitar. I really loved playing piano on this record.”

Norah Jones, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, Keller Auditorium, 222 S.W. Clay St. $39.50 to $68. Info: 800-273-1530, www.portland5.com.

Quick hits

• Toronto-based producer Shaun Frank brings his dub-steppy EDM skills to 45 East, 315 S.E. Third Ave, for a 10 p.m. show Saturday, Oct. 15. As part of the Getaway Tour, Frank is promoting his debut single, “Let You Get Away,” featuring Ashe, the video of which has already garnered more than 2 million views. So this party will be crowded. Evan Alexander and Vincent de France share the bill. $12.50 to $17.50. 21 and over. For VIP reservations, email vip@45eastpdx.com. Info: www.redcubepdx.net.

• Rock-reggae outfit Common Kings have toured with Justin Timberlake, Sean Paul, girl group 5th Harmony and Cee-Lo Green. They also co-wrote the song “Before You Go” with pop star Meghan Trainor on their new EP “Hits & Mrs.” Catch them with Ballyhoo! at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at the Roseland Theater, 8 N.W. Sixth Ave. All ages. $20. Info: 971-230-0033l, www.roselandpdx.com.

• Guitarist-singer Marissa Nadler has recorded seven albums exploring her “gothic American songform,” including her latest record, “Strangers.” You can see her for free at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16, at Music Millennium, 3158 E. Burnside St. All ages. Info: 503-231-8926, www.musicmillennium.com.

• To commemorate the 25th anniversary of his album, “Passion and Warfare,” lord of all guitarists Steve Vai plays a 9 p.m. show with Tony MacAlpine at Revolution Hall, 1300 S.E. Stark St., at 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16. Vai has played with everyone from Frank Zappa to David Lee Roth. He also invented a guitar scale and may be the smartest person ever to rock Spandex on stage. $40. 21 and over. Info: 503-288-3895, www.revolutionhall.com.

• Indie-pop-rockers LVL UP has released their third album and first for Sub Pop, “Return to Love,” a showcase of reverb, harmony, tape distortion, pop hooks and experimental sounds. Catch them at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, along with Blowout and Sleeping Blood, at Analog, 720 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd. All ages. $10. Info: 503-206-7439, www.analogpdx.com.

Q& A with Rachael Yamagata

Singer-songwriter Rachael Yamagata performs a show with Pressing Strings at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19, in Star Theater, 13 N.W. Sixth Ave. Tickets are $17, and you can learn more at startheaterportland.com.

Prior to her show here, she talked to the Tribune.

Tell us a bit about the setlist for this tour – will it be heavy with tunes from your new release “Tightrope Walker” ?

“We’re definitely putting about eight of 10 new songs in the set to celebrate the release.  We’ve blended in several of my key past tunes as well to round everything out.  It’s tricky for listeners to listen to a full set of all new songs, so we’ve been careful to arrange them in an order and approach the show in a way that makes sense.

You’ve turned your home in Woodstock into a studio of sorts – how has this helped you as a songwriter?

“It’s always great to be able to get an idea down in a recorded version as you’re writing it.  It’s fresh and often when I record as I write there can be a certain magic to the performance or first chord choices.  My subconscious is still working on it more than my logic per se and to have a home studio, I can get takes that can be used as a base for the final version if I want.  Being at home, in my own creative space is easy and inspiring and that opens the gate for true play.”

“Tightrope Walker” reportedly comes from a mystical experience of healing you had – can you elaborate on that a bit?

“It was really more like a daydream, or vision that I ‘saw’ in my mind’s eye while sitting on the front porch of my house in Woodstock.  I literally saw people gathering together who were seeing themselves these little vignettes or like movie clips of their lives - those painful parts that spanned the years and remained with them as significant touch points for where they were at in the present.  By confronting them, they were able to release them.  The ‘healing’ took place by being able to face these moments and acknowledge them and I had this strange sense of everyone being united because of it.  Of course, these are things that I simply believe in - our universal experience and the fact that we aren’t so separate from the challenges we face, but this was a very visual experience that I’d never had before.  That was the day I started writing the record.  I did a lot of free writing in the mornings and just tried to capture whatever random thoughts I was having and I’d go back a few days later and reread the pages.  ’Tightrope Walker’ was one of those things and I grabbed onto it as this tangible metaphor I could use as a thru-line for ‘how’ one could approach getting through these challenges we have that try to break our spirit.”

How has your sense of arranging a song changed over the years?

“I work a lot with textures and tones and I’ll know it when I hear it mentally.  I always try to follow the lyric and see where the story takes me and I really love getting a diverse collection of folks in the room to go to town on a song.  When I’m recording demos I track in a very backwards way - sometimes building sections as I go versus laying down one instrument through an entire track.  I like a journey to a song so often the arrangements build to these bigger arcs, but I also love the drama of suddenly stripping everything away to just a naked voice and one instrument.  I’m a big believer in the first take instinct of someone’s performance and sometimes I intentionally don’t run through a song with the players so that they are free to really be figuring it out as they go and not over think anything.  It doesn’t always work, but a lot of times it’s magic.

Do you compose primarily on piano or guitar and do you think it makes a difference on which instrument you discover a melody?

“I’m pretty split down the middle now as to which instrument I write on for a song.  I’m definitely not a good guitar player so in some ways it opens me up a bit more to really work by ear. I don’t know music theory so I’m lost on any proper technique on both instruments, but I like that. There’s nothing intellectual telling me which chord is the right chord to go to next so I am forced to find my way and it often takes a long time for me to get there.  It’s still a mystery to me how any of it works really.”

You’ve done a lot of collaborating with other musicians – from whom have you learned the most and what is it they taught you that you think changed your musical direction even if only slightly?

“I learn something every time really.  Simply watching someone else’s process is fascinating.  There’s no one right way.  Ryan Adams could write a song in five minutes or have the first verse only and go in with the band and record it and it would be perfection - gritty, real, awesome and fresh.  Mike Viola is one of my favorite people to write with and he really taught me ‘play’ and has so much energy to pursue all trails.  We got stumped one day and wrote some songs as if we were puppets and were just entertaining ourselves.  Then we slowed it down and realized the lyric became this great heartbreaking ballad.  Mandy Moore was one of the most detailed and dedicated writers I’ve ever worked with.  She was so driven to find the right lyric to express a particular thing - in many ways, she taught me patience for my own writing.”

A lot of your songs appear on soundtracks for TV shows – do you consciously write for such shows or is it more a matter of them simply finding songs they like on your records?

“I haven’t yet written for any shows intentionally, but I think my songs are often focused on universal emotions and situations and translate well for character stories.”

Your song “Nobody” has wee bit of a Trent Reznor meets Annie Lennox feel – what inspired you to write this song?

“I liked the idea of obsession and the darker nature that surrounds it.  Whether it’s a need for someone or something, that feeling of ‘you simply must have this’, a drive from the pit of your stomach type of thing.  It’s borderline unhealthy, but passion like that is what also can make for a breakthrough.  I originally applied that lyric to a toxic relationship, but now I feel it resonating for me on the subject of pursuing one’s dream.  It’s become this anthem of sorts of focus and drive and there’s something dark about that, but very powerful.”

You seem to have a vocal style that invites folks in rather than hits them over the head – who inspired your vocal approach and how do you think about vocals when composing?

“I don’t really think about it in terms of approach when I’m writing.  I like the intimacy that can be gained with a certain performance or mix of where the vocal sits in a song, but I often think of other instruments as a vocal as well.  I’ll sometimes edit guitar lines to be an answer to the vocal line.  I’m a big fan of lyrics - words are important to me for sure so I always want them to register to the listener.  The big crescendo moments both live and in recordings are where I really think the voice can blend into the arrangements of music and pack a punch.  I have a lot of fun with musical beds created with harmonies.  Especially on this record, they became a sort of angel choir to me, sometimes working to soothe like in ‘Rainsong’ while in songs like ‘Over’ they really serve a rhythmic function as well.”