Trent Beaver @ The Double Aught Ranch in Canby

“Fight For Heaven,” the second track on Trent Beaver’s debut album, “Ghost”, is a twist on the old myth of the musician who sells his soul to The Devil for fame and fortune. Beaver’s angle is that his bargain is not for wealth and stardom, but rather to be able to do what he loves while fulfilling the obligations of marriage and fatherhood. He revisits fatherhood on the seventh track, “Blooming,”  about his 17 month-old daughter, Lennon, who came along for our interview dressed in a Rolling Stones shirt. She is clearly a musician’s child. He was as well, his father was a country singer in Nashville. When his parents split-up, he moved with his mother to Molalla, where he began to pursue music in his teens. He says his father turned down opportunities to go further in the business due to fear. He is determined not to repeat his father’s mistakes, namely, giving-up. So much so that his newest of many tattoos is the phrase, “Hold-fast,” written across his knuckles.

Beaver may well be on his way, “Ghost” was recorded at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, with Will McFarland, of Neil Young’s band, on Lead-Guitar, who is showcased best on the first track, “Lost In Space”, which features a wonderfully strange mix of synthesizer and guitar, instantly suggesting the ethereal setting, before a single lyric is sung, which speaks to the wisdom of Beaver’s preference to compose melody first. While the genre that leaps to mind to describe Beaver’s music is Country, Rock, and even Soul would also fit on certain tracks. Perhaps it is this willingness to mix genres fluidly that makes him particularly appreciative of the jam-session dynamic. He says that the experience of traveling to record the album made him keenly aware of the way musicians freely collaborate and jam with each other in other parts of the country, something that he believes needs to happen more frequently here at home. To that end, he spearheads a jam session every Monday night at the Double Aught Ranch in Canby.

He also tours local venues in the Canby/Oregon City area with his band The Damned. If you’re looking to see one of Oregon’s most seamlessly versatile musicians, seek out Trent Beaver.