Live from the Annex Sidewalk Bar: Mark MacMinn

Mark MacMinn plays the Annex Sidewalk Bar on Friday, October 16, from 5 to 7 PM. He's a songwriter, recording artist, performer and producer working in an alt-folk and americana style, and this is a solo bill.

MacMinn describes his sound as drawing on the cities where he's lived and worked: Austin, Los Angeles, Nashville and Portland. That's a lot of ground to cover—the Texas hill country, the West Coast, the heart of Nashville's songwriting scene, and now the Pacific Northwest—and you can hear those different places pulling at the music. He's also a substance survivor, and he says his songs explore the resilience it takes to keep going. It's the kind of songwriting that doesn't shy away from the harder parts of a life, and it's where the alt-folk side of things usually finds its footing.

He's picked up the Echo Fund grant and the Holler Fund grant along the way, and critics have called him "genuine, sincere and the real deal." If you're into songwriting that leans more toward the honest and the personal than the polished, that's a good place to start. The set is all ages, so you can bring the kids along if you're out with them on a Friday afternoon.

The Annex Sidewalk Bar is part of the Crystal Hotel, at 303 SW 12th Ave in downtown Portland. The show runs from 5 to 7 PM, and it's free.