Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters celebrates 10 years of Americana music with new album

Ashleigh Flynn is a long time Portland musician who was primarily a solo artist for much of her career. But that all changed in 2015 when a friend introduced her to Nancy Luca, who had an all-female cover band. She and Luca hit it off and drew other women into a new all-female band: Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters, an homage to Rosie the Riveter, the WWII-era icon of female power and can-do spirit.

The band is celebrating 10 years of making Americana music that embraces joy and creativity as a facet of resistance with a new album called “Good Morning Sunshine,” which drops this week. The band will play a record release concert at Mississippi Studios in Portland on Saturday, April 5, before they hit the road on tour.

Flynn joins us in studio with Luca and other members of the band to play a few songs and give us a sneak peek of the album.

Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Ashleigh Flynn is a longtime Portland musician who was a solo artist for a lot of her career. That changed in 2015 when she met Nancy Luca, who had an all-female cover band. They hit it off and pretty quickly Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters were born. The honky tonk Americana rock ‘n’ roll band is named as an homage to Rosie the Riveter, the World War II-era icon of female power and can-do spirit. The band’s new album comes out this Saturday. It’s called “Good Morning Sunshine.” In a glowing review, Sean Underwood wrote that the band is part of a “West Coast corps of women musicians delivering twangers and bangers far removed from compromised country pop.”

Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters join us now, instruments in hand. Welcome to Think Out Loud.

Ashleigh Flynn: Thank you. Happy to be here.

Miller: I’m thrilled to have you guys here. I thought we could start right in with the song. What do you have for us?

Flynn: We’re going to play a song called “Tilly Jane Ridge.”

[”Tilly Jane Ridge” by Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters playing – live in studio]

Up on Tilly Jane ridge you can see for miles

From the peaks to the desert, under bluebird skies

This land is hallowed from a very big fire

Thunder and lightning from our makers ire

Will we ever learn?

If Mother Nature burns, it’s we who shall be spurned

In the end – up on Tilly Jane Ridge.

I feel terrible sorrow about all those sheep,

in their silly red hats and their anger so deep.

Spending their earnings on hats, guns & flags

While their liar-in-chief grifts off their cash.

Will we ever learn?

If Mother Nature burns, it’s we who shall be spurned

In the end – up on Tilly Jane Ridge.

Tilly Jane, she was a jaunty spark.

She wore a smile on her face that came from her heart.

If you’re looking upon us my dear Tilly Jane,

Forgive us our trespasses, we lost our way.

Well, the Bible reads somewhere go forth have dominion

A lie upon which our forebears have ridden

Tilly Jane loved the earth, lest we beg her forgiveness

The future is ours, it’s yet to be written

Will we ever learn?

If Mother Nature burns, it’s we who shall be spurned

In the end – up on Tilly Jane Ridge.

[Song ends]

Miller: That’s “Tilly Jane Ridge,” one of the songs from the new album by Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters that comes out on Saturday. Ashleigh, where did that song come from?

Flynn: Tilly Jane Ridge.

Miller: You were up there.

Flynn: Yeah, it’s a trail on the north side of Mount Hood and it was named after the wife of, I can’t remember his first name, but he was [William S.] Ladd. He was a mayor of Portland in the late 1800s. He was in love with her and she was in love with that area, so he’s responsible for building Cloud Cap with his buddy.

I was up there with my sister and my partner and the Gnarl Ridge Fire of 2008 pretty much swept the whole thing clean. And it just was really hallowed and really kind of sad. And 2020, lead up to that election, that song just kind of came in a flash as I was like, man, how do people not get it? And I’m standing in the middle of it, like, here’s the clear evidence that the world is on fire, people. But …

Miller: You have that line in the chorus: “Will we ever learn if Mother Nature burns, it’s we who shall be spurned in the end up on Tilly Jane Ridge.” Do you have an answer to that?

Flynn: My answer would be to educate yourselves, be aware of disinformation, and get off Fox News and out of the echo chamber and … yeah, I mean, and get out into nature, take a green bath.

Miller: You don’t pull punches in those lyrics. This is one of the verses: “I feel terrible sorrow about all those sheep in their silly red hats and their anger so deep, spending their earnings on hats, guns and flags while their liar-in-chief drifts off their cash.” What role does music play for you in making sense of what’s happening for yourself and getting through it?

Flynn: It is definitely the go to, in addition to nature, of course. Playing music is really good for your vagus nerve (a); but (b), it’s a sanctuary, it’s a refuge. It’s a place to kind of take stock and hopefully turn that frown upside down. I mean, that’s what this band is about and trying to bring that out to people as an offering, to come together and to make joy among the fear, the anxiety and the sorrow, because where there is joy, there can be no fascism.

Miller: We obviously live in a pretty divided country. Do you plan to play that song in front of Trump supporters?

Flynn: Absolutely. You throw tomatoes at me.

Miller: Has that happened yet?

Flynn: Yeah. We played a show at Mississippi and I might have said something like, “we’re sending this one out to Elon Trump,” and everybody loved it and laughed. Then I got trolled in my DMs by some dude who was at the show. He’s like, “Way to alienate half the crowd.” I just blocked.

Miller: Can you introduce us to your band?

Flynn: Yes, absolutely. On the bass here is Carmen Paradise. Right next to me on fiddle is Isabel Dammann. And to my far right, Nancy Luca, the one and only, producer of the record.

Miller: Can we hear one more song from this new album? We’re going to hear “Little Red Wing.” What’s the inspiration for this song?

Flynn: There is a little body of water here in Portland, Smith and Bybee Lakes, and I go out there and paddle. And it was like early spring, very warm day and everything was starting to pop there. And there was a flock of red-winged blackbirds and they started to syncopate their calls, cause they’re feeding. I was stunned and in awe. And at the same time, I had just started doing therapy. The person that I was working with, the clinician, practices this modality called IFS, where you try to look at all the different parts of yourselves and the voices in your head that tell you mean things and that you’re bad, or you’re no good.

And I was really frustrated because I’m like, those voices are me. Like, what’s the difference? I don’t understand, how do you separate yourself? And while I was sitting on my board listening to these birds, the song just kind of came in a flash and I’m like, oh my God, this is my higher self singing to my younger, hurt self. And trying to comfort it and tell it that I’m here. Then I was like, oh, this is what she’s been talking about. So now I’m totally indoctrinated. Yeah, this song is singing to my younger, sad, self-destructive self.

Miller: Let’s have a listen. This is “Little Red Wing.”

[”Little Red Wing” by Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters playing – live in studio]

Miller: That was “Little Red Wing” by Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters. It’s from the new album “Good Morning Sunshine.” The album drops this Saturday. There’s going to be a record release show at Portland’s Mississippi Studios on Saturday night. They’re gonna be at the Grand Theater in Salem on April 25 and at Silver Moon Brewing in Bend on April 26.

That was a little bit of extra guitaring from Nancy Luca. I don’t mind if you play some guitar throughout all of our shows.

I just want to go back to Ashleigh. You, just on your stand up paddle board, alone at Smith and Bybee – is it normal for songs just to come to you? You weren’t thinking about songwriting or songs, but all of a sudden it just drops down into your head like that?

Flynn: The best ones do.

Miller: Really?

Flynn: Yeah.

Miller: If they’re really good, [snaps fingers] they’re there?

Flynn: Yeah, 100%.

Miller: And the ones that you struggle with, they’re not as good?

Flynn: In my humble opinion, yeah. I feel like they’re little gifts from whatever our collective consciousness or … But it’s all kind of a process, like I’ll sit and noodle around on my guitar for a while. Maybe I had that melody from doing that and it’s in there, and then all of a sudden it all kind of comes together.

Miller: That’s sort of the behind-the-scenes preparation, but then there’s some magic.

Flynn: Well, it feels like it. I mean, I feel really lucky in that respect. I don’t know how to explain it and I don’t know if other people would consider it magic. But it feels really like a gift, every little morsel.

Miller: Nancy, I mentioned in my intro that the band exists because the two of you met and something happened. What do you remember about that first meeting?

Nancy Luca: I remember that Ashleigh crashed my wedding reception …

Miller: That was the first time you met?

Luca: Pretty much, yeah. And then we were jamming at the reception and I told her to get off the drums.

[Laughter]

Flynn: Yeah.

Luca: And from then, we sort of started hanging out. She would give me some songs. I would take them and I write all those little hooky things like, [singing] “do do do do do do … "

Miller: I love those things.

Luca: Things like that. And I embellish. Yeah, she’ll send me something that’s like this [guitar notes playing], and I’ll go [upbeat guitar notes playing], or rock it up a little bit if it needs rocking, or if it needs twanging, that’s what I’ll do. So, yeah, those little thoughts will come into my head too when I’m just walking around the backyard … like I’m listening to her tune and I’m like, oh now I hear this, [swanky guitar notes playing]. I run in and record it onto my phone or something.

Flynn: Yeah.

Miller: Would you sing that, or you grab your guitar and record it on your phone?

Luca: Oh, I hear it in my head. I sing it, and then I’ll sing it into my voice recorder or something. Then, yeah, figure it out on the guitar.

Miller: And then would you text that to Ashleigh, just you saying, [singing] “brr brr brr brr brr”?

Luca: No, I have a recording studio, so I’ll lay it down and then send it to her. [Laughter]

Miller: All right, it sounds like a real musical partnership.

Luca: Yeah, it is.

Flynn: For sure.

Miller: Ashleigh, what’s it meant to you and your music making to have Nancy as a partner?

Flynn: Oh, it’s been a delight and it’s been like a revelation. Being a troubadour who does a lot of the [singing] “doom chicka doom chicka” and maybe I’ll accompany myself on harmonica or something, to have somebody take my little morsels and then add her little morsels of inspiration … yeah, it’s been a delight and a revelation. So thanks, Nance!

Luca: You’re welcome!

Miller: Can we hear one more live song? This is not from the new album, but we’re gonna hear “This Love.” Let’s just listen, then we can talk about it after.

Flynn: OK.

[”This Love” by Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters playing – live in studio]

Miller: That is “This Love” by the band Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters. There’s a great line in that, in the chorus: “I got a whole lot of love and I aim to give you some.” I’m so used to love songs saying, “I’m going to give you all my love.” The Beatles said that. Led Zeppelin said that. You’re not totally sure. You’re going to give some of your love, and you’ll hold some back and see how it goes.

Luca: I never thought of it that way. That’s awesome.

Flynn: All right, Dave, that’s a different take.

Miller: What’s your take?

Flynn: Well, with respect to that, I was … OK, so this was on the lead up to the 2016 election. I had just watched one of the presidential debates and I was horrified. And I called Nancy. I was like, WTF is happening, like how are we here? And she’s like, yeah, it really sucks, maybe smoke a dube and write a song. I was like, OK. And I sat down and I’m like, how do I take this horrible feeling, turn it inside out and find the glimmer of hope, basically turn that frown upside down. I just obviously went to the place of love, which I think some people who are malignant narcissists don’t really have the capacity to do. And nonetheless, I was going to face them with love rather than hate. So yeah, they’ll get some.

Miller: It’s very different than my reading.

Flynn: Really?

Miller: No, I mean, that’s one of the great things about art and music is that …

Flynn: Absolutely.

Miller: … the audience feels things in ways. Now I will hear the song in a different way.

Flynn: OK.

Miller: What can folks expect at your show? This is a sort of a stripped down quartet. One of the record release shows I mentioned, there’s one on Saturday in Portland, Mississippi Studios, before you go to Salem and Bend later in the month. What can folks expect?

Flynn: So the out of town, out of Portland shows will be a five piece, so we will be us with a drummer, our drummer Leila behind us. And then Mississippi Studios on Saturday, we invited as many of the players who were in town as we could, who participated in the record to come and play the show. So it’s gonna be a very packed and busy stage, but it’s gonna be a blast and I can’t wait.

Miller: Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters, thanks very much.

Flynn: Thanks for having us.

Miller: That is Ashleigh Flynn on vocals and acoustic guitar; Isabel Dammann on fiddle and backup vocal; Carmen Paradise on bass and backup vocal; Nancy Luca on electric guitar.

We are going to go out with one more song. This one is the recorded version of the title track from the new album “Good Morning Sunshine.”

[”Good Morning Sunshine” by Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters playing]

Good morning sunshine,

Waiting for you all this life.

We wake up to your design.

We awaken only to your light.

Yeah, shine that light!

Yeah, brighten the sky!

Oooh, waiting on you,

Waiting on you …

I shine on the dark side

Where time fleets and shadows collide

I am the underbrush

I am the peace you need so much

Yeah, shine that light!

Yeah, brighten the sky!

Ooooh with your purple and pink,

You bring us to the brink,

You bring us to the brink …

Calling to us from the night

Call to us cast darkness from first light

Call you close with all my might

Circle round you once then bid good-bye

Yeah, shine that light!

Yeah, brighten the sky!

Oooh, waiting on you,

Waiting on you … to shine!

[Song ends]

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