“Living life as an artist is a practice. You are either engaging in the practice, or you’re not. It makes no sense to say you’re not good at it. It’s like saying “I’m not good at being a monk.” You are either living as a monk, or you’re not. We tend to think of the artist’s work as the output. The real work of the artist is a way of being in the world.”

Rick Rubin – The Creative Act: A Way of Being

Depending on the day you might find me playing upright bass in a jazz bar, mandolin at a bluegrass festival, electric bass on a rock stage or country guitar at a winery. Connecting with the audience and fellow performers is my favorite part of making music, in any genre.

My Story

Jazz, Bluegrass, Country, World Music and Coffee..?

Yep, coffee! My careers in music and coffee have been intertwined since my first barista job during my sophomore year at the University of Washington. I grew up listening to country (we were a KRPM house,) played trombone in grade school, and moved on to electric bass and vocal jazz in high school, but wasn’t a coffee fan until college. At UW I studied jazz and classical bass while continuing to work as a barista, and settled into a major in Ethnomusicology which deepened my interest in world travel. I moved into a coffee roasting position, eventually managing roasting and production for a small Seattle company and traveling internationally for some coffee education and sourcing opportunities. I continued to play occasional jazz gigs during this period, but my interest was shifting towards bluegrass thanks to Edgar Meyer’s Uncommon Ritual and Appalachia Waltz records.

After eight years with the coffee roasting company I transitioned to working with a green (unroasted) coffee importer which took me all over Central and South America, Africa and Indonesia. I’d take a Martin Backpacker guitar with me on many of these early trips, but seeing Sam Bush and Chris Thile at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2012 opened my ears to the mandolin. I bought a Mid-Missouri (Big Muddy) Mini-Mo as soon as I got home and that mandolin went with me on every coffee trip thereafter. I’ve even been fortunate to play songs with coffee farmers on some of those trips, and learn about how deeply music is woven into their culture and lifestyle. See the “Ethnomusicology” section below for more on that.

My interest in jazz was rekindled at the National Oldtime Fiddle Championship in Weiser, Idaho in 2015, (didn’t see that coming!) and I dove into recovering my jazz bass chops and studying jazz mandolin. That same year my wife Shannon and I formed our acoustic duo Saint September and started performing originals and songs from our favorite harmony-rich artists. I continued working with the coffee importing company through the pandemic, and Shannon and I moved from Seattle to Ellensburg, WA in 2022.

We first started spending time in the Kittitas Valley in 2016 and thought we had a good idea of what a wonderful area it is, but even after living here full time since 2022 we’re still continually amazed by the quantity and quality of art, live music, beautiful scenery and incredible people. In 2023 I joined up with Central Washington’s most excellent rock & pop cover band Under the Covers, and still commute over the pass frequently to play Western Swing with the Apple Valley Wranglers and jazz with the Wood & Strings trio.

Bass

Bassist Chris Davidson grew up in the Seattle area and lives in Ellensburg, WA. While pursuing a degree in Ethnomusicology, Chris studied jazz and classical bass at the University of Washington. Chris performs jazz, Western Swing, rock, bluegrass and country as a bassist and vocalist around the Pacific Northwest.

Mandolin

Chris Davidson picked up the mandolin in 2012 and dove into the music of Bill Monroe, Kenny Baker, Sam Bush and other bluegrass legends. Influenced by his jazz background and a keen interest in fiddle music, Chris performs bluegrass, country and jazz on mandolin and vocals around the Pacific Northwest.

Guitar

Chris Davidson picked up guitar in 2007 to learn the classic country songs he grew up with on the radio. Today his playing style is shaped by Bluegrass, Country, Swing and Celtic genres, as well as songwriting and solo arrangements. Chris performs solo and with various bands around the Pacific Northwest.

Ethnomusicology

For those of you not familiar, Ethnomusicology is the study of music in its social and cultural contexts. When I learned about this major at the University of Washington I could hardly believe that it brought together so many of my strongest interests. UW has an outstanding Ethnomusicology program and while I was a student I was fortunate to study Trinidadian steel pan (steel drums) with Ray Holman and take an array of fascinating world music classes ranging from North India to Ghana. I worked with professor Shannon Dudley to complete my capstone project tying in my work with coffee farmers in Colombia, which was an extraordinary opportunity to combine several of my life’s passions in one body of work. If you’re interested, check out Los Caminantes de Monserrate on YouTube to see and hear original music from the coffee farming community of Monserrate, Huila, Colombia.

Coffee

And that brings us to coffee. I don’t have much to share about how music and coffee have overlapped in my professional life, but I’d be remiss if I created a “Bio” page and didn’t include a few words about my primary career for over 25 years. The relationships I’ve developed with coffee producers, roasters, buyers, baristas and everyone in between are invaluable to me. My first trips to Guatemala in 2005 to study Spanish and train baristas led to me pursuing Spanish language proficiency, which was enormously helpful in my work as an importer for 16 years. During that time I formed close friendships all around the world, some of which still feel like family. I always had a guitar or mandolin with me on those trips and whenever music entered into our coffee conversations, it added something unique and wonderful.

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