Elwood

BAKER CITY — Banjo and harmonies will fill Churchill School on Tuesday, July 11, with a concert featuring local Elwood and headliner The Lowest Pair.

Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 6:45 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance at churchillbaker.com or $23 at the door. Admission is free for ages 15 and younger who attend with a paid adult.

The Lowest Pair features Kendl Winter and Palmer T. Lee.

Lee started writing poetry in high school.

“I did poetry readings and felt … awkward,” he said.

Then he picked up a guitar, started writing songs, and formed a band in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

He played that guitar for about six months, then he inherited two banjos.

“I never looked back,” he said.

Winter also started with guitar in what she terms a “DIY music culture” in central Arkansas. She moved to Olympia, Washington, at 18 and she too discovered the banjo.

“The banjo and the sounds it can make brought me into folk music,” she said.

Winter and Lee met at a bluegrass festival in 2013. As a banjo duo, they’ve released five albums, toured North America and played two different times in the United Kingdom.

They released their newest album, “The Perfect Plan,” in 2022 featuring a four-piece string band. Their tour schedule is ramping back up, and they typically spend two weeks on the road, then take two weeks off. In July and August, they will be “weekend warriors” with shorter trips, then hit the road again in the fall.

Elwood

Born and raised in Eastern Oregon, Elwood says he draws inspiration from nature — “the trickle of a small stream, the roar of thunder, the silent beauty of the Blue Mountains, as well as other aspects of Mother Nature.”

Elwood has shared the stage with bands such as Simone Tucker, Tim Snider, Michael Kirkpatrick, Kory Quinn, Left Coast Country and many more.