Please enjoy our first fan submitted blog post, it's honest & from the heart, and gives a glimpse into Jason Dea West's recent performance in Seattle at the Sunset Tavern. Thank you to Joe Nienalt, we're glad the show inspired you to write about the impact discovering Jason's music has had on your life. Community and collaboration are important to us, and we hope our blog becomes a little corner of the internet where we can relish in shared realness.
All Roads Lead West
I encountered Jason Dea West’s music less than a year ago in a pretty random
and roundabout way this past winter. I was in the midst of recovering once again from
whatever it is we humans need to periodically recover from…death, heartbreak, some
other form of tragedy…I won’t get into the specifics of my shit here but I’m sure you
know the drill. It was and, in some ways still is, a very gnarly time in my life.
I grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania listening to rap artists like Public Enemy,
N.W.A. and then all the great Seattle grunge bands that came along during that time like
Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and all the usual early 90’s (class of ’93 here)
suspects. I’ve also always had an affinity for classic 60’s and 70’s rock and from the
ages of 15 to 17 I was like 95% sure I was the reincarnation of Jim Morrison but that’s a
story for another time.
This past winter I got sucked into the show Landman. Somebody recommended
it to me and since I’m a Billy Bob fan and still have the vision of the beautiful Ali Larter in
a whipped cream bikini permanently etched in my head from way back in the day, I gave
the show a whirl and liked it a lot. At the end of one of the better episodes of the show,
they played the song “Wyoming” by Benjamim Tod and something about it landed for
me. The first line of the song kept playing in my mind.
“Well, men like me…probably die alone…with some broken dream…on a dusty
road.”
Now when I first heard “Wyoming” at the end of whatever episode of Landman
that was I had no idea that Benjamin Tod sang that song or that a man named Benjamin
Tod even existed, but I damn sure knew the opening line to the song. It just resonated
with me. I guess it was where I was in my life this past winter. Maybe it’s where I still
am? I honestly don’t fucking know. What I was sure of then, though, was that I wanted
to know who sang that song and that I wanted to listen to it again.
I fed the opening line of the song into the ol’ interwebs and soon discovered the
music of Benjamin Tod and his wife Ashley Mae’s Lost Dog Street Band as well as
Ben’s solo stuff (I’m taking my son to see him perform at the Showbox Sodo in July).
Say what you want about modern technology. Shit, I’ll probably be saying it right
alongside you. Sure, it’s evil and brings out the worst in us and is a barren soul-suck
and all that terrible stuff but it’s also pretty amazing. It allowed me to do a deep dive on
this music, and I eventually worked my way to the stuff Ben did when he was first
starting out with a band called Barefoot Surrender, a group he’d apparently formed with
some other dude.
Barefoot Surrender has some very cool super high energy frenetic street
performances sprinkled around YouTube that anybody with even the slightest bit of
interest in music should check out. They also have their first and only record (released
in 2013, self-titled) on most of the streaming platforms. That’s how I listened to it and I
gotta say, I was pretty blown away right outta the gate. The songs had a relentlessness
to them and a unique confidence and a passion that I’m honestly not sure I’ve ever
encountered before.
“All bangers,” was the way somebody on Reddit succinctly described the record
and I gotta say I completely agree. After about a hundred or whatever listens (I’m a little
slow on the uptake sometimes) I eventually started wondering who the fuck this other
dude was playing along with Ben in Barefoot Surrender. It wasn’t like Barefoot
Surrender was some Ben driven vehicle. I mean he’s obviously featured and he
absolutely destroys on the record but part of the beauty of the record is half the time you
don’t really fully know who is singing what. You just know somebody is singing and
somebody else is playing guitar and banjo and harmonica and washboard and they’re
all absolutely beating your fucking brains in with wonderfully brash and in your face
music. It’s an all-out sensory assault and for my money an all-time classic. One of the
best one-off records ever made maybe? So, of course, all of that brought me back to
the question, “who the fuck is this other dude?”
Well, I soon discovered the other dude in Barefoot Surrender was named Jason
Dea West and (again thanks to the wonders of modern streaming technology) I was
quickly able to do a deep dive on his own vast catalog of stuff. I think the first song I
listened to of his was Lone Wolf. One thing I quickly learned was that Jason Dea West’s
music has legs. When I first heard Lone Wolf I remember thinking, “do I like this guy?”
And then, after I was compelled to listen again, I remember thinking, “maybe I do like
this guy” and eventually I started thinking what I’m still thinking which is, “I fucking love
this guy!”
Jason’s solo stuff is different from Barefoot Surrender and it’s different from the
stuff he did alongside Aurelia Anne Cohen in Intuitive Compass (also great) and I chalk
that up to this is a dude that is constantly allowing himself to evolve musically. He’s
constantly pushing himself and testing limits and experimenting with sound and style.
Now maybe that’s by design or maybe it just comes natural? I don’t know but what do I
know is, it fucking works. This guy has a deep catalog of music and it’s pretty much all
fucking great.
Recently I been going through listening (and life) phases based centered around
different Jason Dea West songs. I’m currently in my “Dead Flashlight” phase. Before
that I was in my “Signing Off” phase and before that was my “Out with Wolves” phase
and before that my “Songs to Write with a Weary Mind” phase and then the phase that
kicked it all of which was my “Make a New Start” phase.
Getting into this type of music is kind of a big deal for me. Growing up in inner
city Philly, it was expected that you didn’t like country music. I remember saying (along
with everybody else around me at that time), “play anything but country” and then later
on in my college years I tweaked my approach and started saying, “I don’t like country,
but I like Johnny Cash” and I clung to that ethos up until very recently…up until
Landman, I guess?
Now I don’t know if Ben’s stuff and Jason’s stuff is considered “country” and at
this point I don’t really care. Whatever it’s considered, it’s undeniably fucking good.
Anybody with two earlobes and half a brain in their head should be able to pick up on
that. I don’t drink anymore and I don’t do drugs but I will occasionally go on what I call a
vision quest (for course correction purposes) and if you’ve ever been on the type of
vision quest I’m talking about you’ll know that things can get pretty intense sometimes
and you can reach a point where things can flow negatively or they can flow positively
and I was on one of these intense vision quests recently that started to go negatively
and Jason’s music would bring it back to a positive frame. The music would stop and
the negative visions would creep back in so I’d play the music and the music would
bring things back positive again (shout out to the Journey in Today record for getting me
through that fateful night in Vader, WA). Good insightful music can be pretty powerful
stuff indeed.
It was around this time that the song, “So it Goes,” was released by Anti-Corp
records. The song is amazing. One of Dea West’s best and the version that was
released is absolutely stellar. This was the first time I was introduced to Jason’s backing
band The Siskiyou Crest which features Amie Astelle on standup bass and Julia Fryling
on drums. All of the players (and there were more than just Amie and Julia) were in top
form but the absolute best part of the recording was the backing vocal that was
contributed by Jason’s sister Nora Jean O’Dea. The song is essentially about the
sprawling relentlessness of life. I’ve never met Jason and I’ve never met Nora Jean, but
I imagine as siblings they’ve gone through some stuff together (as we all do with our
siblings) and that somehow comes across in the recording. As I said, it’s stellar. Go
listen to it.
Funny side note: I had my 19-year-old son Gabe listen to it and he said, “that’s
not the kind of song you play in your car with the windows down.”
“Oh yeah? Hold my non-alcoholic beer, boy.”
A short while after that Jason released a new record called Louella. It was
different from his previous stuff. In some parts it felt bluesier and in other parts jazzier
and in other parts like he was channeling Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Band
and Canned Heat all at once. Of course, it all works and works in the way that all his
stuff does in the sense that there were some obvious standout tracks (Believing in You,
Falling Down the Mountain, Love Caboose, No Time Waltz, Signing Off) and then tracks
that have legs and grow on you (Object Hotel, Falltime in Laramie, Banks of the
Mississippi, Provolt Country Store) and eventually make you love them with all your
heart.
I made sure to order the $50 Louella cassette bundle when I saw it advertised by
Honey Baby Records (Jason’s new record label) and it brought a glimmer to my eye
when I saw that the bundle (the cassette, bumper stickers, and a t-shirt) was wrapped in
old barn twine, which any Dea West dork (like I now consider myself) will know is a lyric
from Lone Wolf.
After all that, it was a no-brainer for me to immediately buy tickets (absolute steal
at under $25 per ticket after taxes and fees) for me and a compadre when I saw that
Jason Dea West and the Siskiyou Crest would be performing at the Sunset Tavern in
the Ballard area of Seattle on his 38th birthday nonetheless. It felt like a culmination of
sorts to not only the musical journey I’ve been on since last winter when I stumbled onto
Jason’s stuff via Ben Tod’s stuff via Billy Bob and Landman but also a sort of
culmination of the life journey I’ve been on since then, too. A fork in the road so to
speak.
I live in Tacoma, so it was less than an hour drive away. Me and my compadre
Tim (also sober) went down there early and grabbed a bite to eat. I made sure to wear
the Dea West t-shirt that came in the Louella bundle. Is it a little weird to wear another
man’s name emblazoned on my chest as a now 51-year-old man (my own birthday was
just a few days before Jason’s)? Sure, maybe, but it’s more important to me to fly the
flag. I want people to see the name and look up the music or ask me about it. I want to
buy the merch and support these great artists in some small way so that’s what I did
and I did it proudly.
The show began with folk punk band Nil Desperandum. I didn’t know much about
them going in and I think they were just announced as a support act a few days before
the show, but they played with great energy definitely emphasizing the punk part of folk
punk and I enjoyed their performance, especially the song, “Miami Dreams.” After their
performance was over the lead singer Kelly Shaftall stepped off the stage and
immediately began working the band’s merch table. He sold me a T-shirt for $15 as the
rest of the band mixed into the crowd and got ready for the second performer, folk
singer Shannon Jae Ridout, to take the stage.
Full disclosure, I’m a big fan of Shannon’s, too. I discovered her music in much
the same way I discovered Jason Dea West’s – she was in band with Benjamin Tod.
The band was called Spit Shine and also featured Shannon’s husband Nicholas Ridout
and Ben’s wife Ashley Mae. They made a record in 2013 called, “a Bottle, a Gun, & a
Troubled Mind” that is astounding. It’s a little harder to find. I don’t think it’s on the
streaming apps yet, but you can buy it on Bandcamp for $15. You can also dig it up on
YouTube. The band disbanded in 2013 after Nicholas’s untimely death, but the music
lives on.
Shannon went on to write and record some solo work that I stumbled onto on
YouTube. She shared with the crowd that she hadn’t performed live for four years
before supporting Jason and The Siskiyou Crest for the two shows in Seattle and
Portland, so I knew going in this performance was bound to be pretty special. Needless
to say, Shannon did not disappoint.
Shannon is a solo performer, singing and playing guitar, harmonica and whatever
else up she had her feet and hands on up there that I missed. The performance was
intimate and her voice is both haunting and angelic at once. Maybe that’s a corny way
to describe somebody’s singing voice but I don’t know any other way to put it. Go listen
to her stuff (her solo stuff is on the streamers) and you’ll see what I mean. She is a
tremendously gifted vocalist that performs with heart and passion and relatability. She
doesn’t sound like Janis Joplin necessarily but sings with the same distinctiveness and
raw emotion that Joplin sang with, somehow able to soothe the crowd and make them
feel at peace while lacing a dark line like, “you’ll find me…hanging from the willow tree”
into the chorus of the tremendous, The Day I Had Enough. Her vocal talent and
penchant for darker lyrics makes for quite the memorable juxtaposition.
She has an accessible, folksy way of performing and shared little stories and
engaged in some playful banter between songs with the audience. I don’t know a lot but
I know enough about her personal journey to realize that it warrants more than a few
lines at the conclusion of whatever this piece is turning into but as a Philly guy, and
knowing the little bit about her that I do know, I couldn’t help but draw some Rocky
parallels as I watched her endearingly work her way through a sampling of old (Spit
Shine’s “My Love” was a show highlight) and more recent songs like Mississippi Please,
The Day I Had Enough, and It Ain’t Right (all streaming).
Jason Dea West watched her, too, emerging from whatever backroom the
performers were holed up in to support his longtime friend, even shouting from the
crowd to remind her to promote her upcoming album release show at the
Tractor Tavern in Seattle, and her soon to be released debut album, Two Busted Boots
and a Broken Heart, which comes out on June 12, 2026 via Anti-Corp Music.
After she finished performing she pretty much stepped off the stage and right into
the crowd, taking a spot on the wall right next to where I was leaning (my feet hurt!). I
said hello to her and let her know how great she just was. She greeted me warmly and
shook my hand, talking to me about how excited she was for Jason to take the stage
and letting me know how good he was in Portland the night before.
This was the first live show I’ve been to since seeing Soundgarden at the Gorge
in George, Washington in 2011. There were almost 30,000 people at that sold out show
and there definitely were a lot less in the crowd at Jason’s 38 th birthday show at The
Sunset Tavern, but it didn’t matter. The crowd was just as energized as that Soungarden
Gorge crowd when Jason, Amie, and Julia took the stage, ripping right into a spirited
version of Louella, the title track from their latest album.
Dea West performs with a confidence that’s reassuring to the audience. You get
the feeling you’re in good hands when he’s up on that stage stomping his foot and
navigating his way through the mess of wires hooked up to his wonderfully monstrous
steel guitar.
I’ll say this, I’m obviously a huge fan of the guy’s music but I did not realize what
a talented guitar player he is until seeing him perform live. The dude absolutely shreds. I
know he plays a bunch of other instruments (harmonica, banjo, etc) but his guitar
playing was powerful and impressive. Love Caboose from the new record is a personal
favorite and was a show highlight and of course So it Goes. California Way and I Am
Not True stood out, too.
The band didn’t take a lot of breaks between the songs, with Dea West assuredly
and relentlessly leading Siskiyou Crest members Estelle and Fryling through a sampling
of songs from throughout his career, even performing the rarity Life is Hard to Handle.
He credited his bandmates during the show, too, pointing out their musicianship while
explaining, “my songs are really hard to learn and make no sense!” Somehow Amie
Astelle and Julia Fryling helped him and the crowd make perfect sense of them, though.
Astelle usually gets a lot of well-deserved credit for her excellent skill with the standup
bass, but I was equally impressed with Fryling, whose selfless drumming formed a sort
of connective tissue between the two string players.
An extra-long, powerhouse version of Family Farm (from 2025 album 8 Miles
from Rusk) closed the show with precision and passion. I don’t know how long the band
played for, but it seemed like just the right amount of time and they definitely left it all on
the stage. When I saw Chris Cornell at that Gorge Show, he collapsed into a couple of
roadies arms at the end of it, he had given so much of himself. Jason Dea West didn’t
collapse into anybody’s arms at the end of his 38 th birthday show at the Sunset. He
strode off the stage with the same quiet confidence he started the show with, but he
was akin to Cornell in that it was obvious he gave everything he had to the crowd that
night. He gave it his all.
I didn’t get to shake Jason’s hand after the show. I had work in the morning and
so did my trusty compadre Tim, so we were out of there like a shot once the band left
the stage. Instead, I decided to write whatever this turned out to be and see if Honey
Baby Records would post it on their blog.
I get lines to songs stuck in my head. They play in there like mantras over and
over for a while. Just random bits of whatever happens to stick in the ol’ synapses for
whatever reason. Most of the lines stuck in my head these days are all from Jason and
are all pretty positive which I don’t know about you, but I fucking need because life can
be so damn hard sometimes. Life can really leave you hanging by a thread so it’s good
to know that…
“If that big break never comes…we’re gonna do it anyway.”
Jason Dea West’s picaresque style of music is important and it’s even more
important that we fans support independent artists like him. Buy the shirts. Buy the
records. Buy the merch. Listen to the songs on the streamers. Go to the shows and
spread the fucking word. Keep this shit going. Do whatever you can do to take part and
give back because these artists are giving us a lot.
They’re giving us everything they got.
Joe Nienalt is a fan that lives in Tacoma, Washington with his 84-year-old father (now
sporting a Nil Desperandum t-shirt), 16-year-old son, and two spoiled brat dogs.
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